Remembering Us
by HAWTgeek
Summary: "Why so shocked, Darling? It's not THAT shocking,Jason.You always knew that this could happen," Juno told Jason. He gently motioned for Piper. "You've got to make that choice,Jason,not me." "What's wrong with him?" "Haven't you guessed,Darling?He remembers." "Remembers?" Piper and I both said it at the same time. One Shots of Jason and Reyna leading up to his disappearance.
1. Chapter 1

I watched Jason try to command the attention of our troops like he once had, and it was still all there.

His silky voice. His good looks. And his message.

But it didn't feel right.

It felt untrustworthy, and Romans didn't like untrustworthy.

He had been with the enemy so long, and he had admitted that he lost his memory. For all we knew, this could be his plan. He could have been brainwashed by the Greeks and used as a pawn for their big attack on us. And, already vulnerable, we couldn't take the chance.

Even if we had missed him.

Percy had already tried, too, but seeing him kiss a Greek didn't help.

I was the only one left…

And Jason was stumbling.

I noticed that the weapons were still poised to fire and that they were mainly pointing at Jason.

I hadn't seen Jason in a long time, and he didn't seem to remember anything about us, which hurt the most. But, at least in memory of the Jason Grace I had known, I couldn't let him get killed, especially not by his own design.

And deep down, I believed him…

Or maybe I just missed him…

As Jason took a step back, standing by me, it was still clear that no one was ready to take their word for it.

I felt sick as I took another step up, shocking everyone.

"What say you, Reyna?" one of my head generals called out, and I had to force myself not to lean back on Jason and have him help me through this.

He had always been the eloquent one…

"I say we trust them."

Everyone's eyes widened, and they all began to scream out in revolt.

"But they're Greek!"

"He's been kidnapped by them!"

"He's been brainwashed!"

"Your romantic feelings can't get us killed, Reyna!"

Everyone else screamed, but my eyes stayed locked on the man who screamed that.

Romantic feelings.

I had always loved Jason. He was… _Jason_.

I loved the way he could go from the best babysitter in the world to the best solider. I loved how he crinkled his nose when he laughed. I loved the way his voice got softer as he told me about how his only memory of his mother was watching her scream at his older sister violently about nothing. I loved the way he teased me about borrowing his hats and shirts but never took them back and smiled when he saw me in them.

But nothing had ever been romantic.

Nothing had to be.

We had the best of both sides. When I needed someone to hang out with on a Friday night while everyone else was on a date, Jason was always there. And we never had to worry about the dating drama.

I still remembered worrying that I liked Jason because I always got so jealous when I saw him with Suzie, the Venus girl he had sort of been dating. But, when Suzie and Jason fizzled out, everything was okay again.

Another wave of missing Jason hit me hard.

But he was right beside me…

And he didn't remember.

He didn't remember the time we ran away to Malibu for a week and used the money he had collected after his mother died and left him everything to rent a house by the beach. He didn't remember how we used to order coconut cake at restaurants because I would eat the cake and he would eat the coconut. He didn't remember the small things we did either…

He wasn't my Jason…

"This is Jason!" I screamed.

Everyone's jaw dropped.

I _never_ lost my cool.

"Not only was he our best solider, he was our _friend._ He was here with us," I motioned towards the city, "He went to school in our classes. He babysit our children. He came to the Christmas parties and sang all the songs in his horrible voice. He ruled this city. And he was here for us."

I felt like I was about to cry.

Some people softened, but the others stayed still, resolute not to trust him.

"I put myself on the line."

Everyone gasped, but I could hear Jason the loudest.

At least he remembered _something_…

But I had done the right thing.

Everyone roared their approval, and I couldn't look at Jason as Percy finished everything up.

Even without the girl on his arm, trying to comfort him, I wouldn't have been able to look at him.

How could he be the same and yet so different?

"To the senate," Percy told us as the crowd began to disperse, but I was already gone.

_Sitting on the hill that overlooked the city, Reyna finally felt serene, something that didn't happen very much. She wrapped herself up tighter in her black wool sweater, and she closed her eyes as she imagined that she was back in Circe's palace, tanning by the beach and reading all those books on battle._

_Reyna hadn't been used to being cold before she moved here, but she had been in this Camp long enough to be used to it. As she sipped at the hot chocolate, she let the heat warm her body, and she thought back to the first day that she had gotten to camp._

_It was a cold day like this, with snow flurries here and there in the December sky, and Reyna was just a kid then. Lupa took her under her wing, or paw, and she began grooming her to one day lead. For years, Reyna had heard about her special protégé, Jason Grace, but Reyna had never taken too much interest in him. He was just another pretty boy…_

"_You're going to get in so much trouble for breaking curfew."_

_She looked up and there he was._

_Gorgeous Jason Grace._

_Even in the darkness, Reyna could see his golden blonde hair and his bright blue eyes._

"_And what about you?"_

"_The tattletale is my buddy," Jason nudged her, and Reyna ignored him._

_Everyone was his buddy, which only made sense when you knew him._

_But it drove Reyna insane._

For months, I had wanted him back, and he was back now.

But it didn't feel right.

"Reyna."

I froze.

That was Jason.

And he was getting closer.

I wanted to run away to the senate and not have to face him, but I had just put my life on the line for him. And, if that wasn't enough, there were people watching.

He remembered the rules, I knew that. He had remembered the last resort of putting yourself on the line for someone, so he must have remembered our rules. We were Preator's first and people secretly, and that we never dared show weakness, especially not Reyna.

But by running up to me, he was basically asking for me to start crying, another thing the grand Reyna didn't do.

"I wanted to thank you," Jason told her, smiling weakly like he had when I first met him.

I could still remember the way he had been that day. Kind, sweet, adorable. I couldn't understand why Lupa had chosen him, and I made that clear. But then I saw him on a quest, and it suddenly made sense. I knew we needed him, and I worked with him to get ready for the war. But, I still saw him as that pretty boy.

And I had been wrong.

It took a while, but I found the Jason beyond those walls that I loved.

And it looked like I had to start over again, and I couldn't handle that.

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for our people," I lied, trying to seem strong in front of everyone.

Jason nodded, having seen that coming.

He must have known, right?

That I would have put my life on the line for him anyway?

He didn't seem to…

"Thank you anyway," he nodded, his fingers brushing over mine as he had to move to make way for the packages coming from the Argo II.

Jason froze.

"Are you okay, Jason?" some girl called out, coming towards us, the one who had been comforting him all day.

Pippa?

Penelope?

No… Piper? It was Piper.

Jason remained frozen, staring at me.

"He's not okay."

As I had been taught, I bowed immediately, me being the only one.

"I always loved you, Reyna," Juno smiled down at me, motioning for me to stand, "You straightened out Jason. You made him a leader. A hero."

I was about to begin on how he was that before, but Juno stopped me.

"Don't be modest! If you hadn't picked him up and turned him around, he'd still be that little pretty boy dating Suzie," Juno rolled her eyes, always having made it clear about her distain towards the girl Jason had briefly been involved with.

I had never liked Suzie either, but Juno had always been adamant about Jason staying away from those girls. And she had always made it clear that she had set me aside for his match, though Jason and I had never addressed that.

I almost expected Jason to say something, to defend the poor girl, but he was still thinking.

"Why so shocked, Darling?" Juno lifted his chin to look up at her, and his blue eyes stared into hers, trying to decide if he was angry or thankful, "It's not that shocking, Jason. You always knew that this could happen."

He gently motioned for Piper, where she couldn't see.

"You've got to make that choice, Jason, not me," she let go of his chin, and Piper stepped up.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Haven't you guessed, Darling? He remembers."

"Remembers?" Piper and I both said it at the same time.

Piper sounded questioning and scared, but I sounded hopeful.

"And now you will, too," Juno set her hand on Jason's shoulder, and I was suddenly back in time.

_The Promise_

Reyna worked at her desk, and she was about to fall asleep when she heard someone knock at the door.

As she stood from the living room that had been converted into a study, she thought back to how the house had been when she first moved in. Everything had been plush and Roman, with a different living room for different times of the day. Reyna had wanted to keep it that way, but things had changed.

She had one living room now, the one now with the new electronics her budget had allowed. The morning living room with the big windows and soft carpet had been turned into an office for the busy girl, and the last living room was now a gym. The living rooms had always been the focal points of the house, and Reyna felt a little guilty sometimes for not keeping it like that. There was a long room that served as three. Her kitchen in the back, a small dining room in the middle and then her living room.

The only room that remained as plush and serene as when she first unpacked was her bedroom upstairs, which was modeled like a loft and looked out to the beautiful mountains.

As Reyna hurried through the house, she began to wonder who would be seeing her at an hour like this. Reyna had friends, yes, but none of them would come to see her after a certain hour, when they were all off to sleep for their early morning training.

Reyna froze as she opened the door.

Jason Grace.

Her co-leader.

Well, soon to be.

He wasn't voted in _yet_, but everyone knew he would be.

Lupa herself had supported him, and no one went against Lupa, especially not Reyna. After Hylla was off to the Amazons, Lupa took care of Reyna. So, despite how much she didn't want to, she accepted Lupa's orders to train Jason for leadership.

It wasn't hard, she would give him that credit.

But Reyna still saw him as that pretty boy.

Jason tried not to stare at Reyna like he wanted to.

Though they were almost exactly the same, he still saw her as on another level, a level he wanted to be on.

He had always admired Reyna, and he had been crushed when Reyna didn't return the sentiments. He wanted to prove himself to her, but he wasn't sure how. He would get close, but then he'd take a break and that would be the moment Reyna was watching!

"Jason?"

Her voice brought him back to the present.

"Hey, I just finished this book," he held up a book on the architecture of Rome and its defenses that he had borrowed from Reyna, "And I was wondering if you were done with the other book."

Reyna had to admit that she was a little impressed.

A _little_.

The other book was the War Book, as the generals called it. It had a name, but no one ever remembered it.

"Yeah, I've got it in my office," Reyna hesitantly opened the door wider for him to step in, and he did so, handing her the book before she led him through the house to her office.

As Reyna put the book he had just given her in the bookshelf, Jason got his first good look at the room.

He had only been in her house once before, when she stopped to get a pair of tennis shoes when they went on a training hike.

Something about it felt just as intimidating as the girl who lived here.

"Thanks," Jason smiled weakly as she handed him the book, and he could tell that by doing that he made a wrong move.

He couldn't seem to get it right.

Being around her made him nervous.

But he had to prove himself.

She just made it so hard…

Reyna nodded, heading towards her desk and silently telling him to leave.

"What can I do?" Jason complained, and he realized too late that he said that _out loud_.

Reyna looked up at him, her brown eyes wide.

"For what?"

"For you to take me seriously," Jason tried to stand his ground.

"To take you seriously?" she raised her eyebrows.

"I know you think I'm just a pretty boy, Reyna," he crossed his arms.

Reyna didn't deny it. She _did_ think that.

She just didn't think he _noticed_…

"So, what do I have to do to make you stop that?"

She didn't know.

And, if she did, she wasn't even sure that she could tell him.

Jason would have to figure it out on his own.

"I'll prove it to you, you know," he told her, and Reyna had to admit that she liked his confidence.

But she wasn't sure if Jason really could.

And he wasn't sure he could either.

Jason didn't have a choice though.

It was either prove himself to her or continue on like for their entire careers together, which looked to be long.

"Good night, Reyna," Jason nodded.

"Night, Jason," Reyna kept her eyes trained on him as he left.


	2. Beating Reyna at Her Own Game

_Beating Reyna at Her Own Game_

* * *

Though Reyna had never been interested in the other protégé, Jason had always taken an interest in Reyna from the first day she had arrived to Camp Jupiter.

She hadn't realized he was there, but he been when she made her first visit to Lupa, when she adopted her into their training. From the first sight of her, Jason had known that there was more to her than anyone would ever know but he just didn't know what.

And, for the last few years, he had tried to see what that was.

Now, though, he wanted to know more than ever.

He wanted to know what this all was.

Why she made him work so hard to prove that he was more than just that little pretty boy that all the Venus girls drooled over.

Jason saw it as a game, but he couldn't figure out the rules. Or how to win either.

Reyna knew this all troubled him, and, if anything, she liked watching him trying to figure it out.

But the truth was the simple possibility that he had never thought of.

It _wasn't_ a game.

Yes, she did toy with him sometimes for her own entertainment, but, overall, this was just as straightforward as it came.

She also knew Jason's problem.

She wasn't sure how he could ever _"prove" _himself to be more than pretty boy, but she did know that he had to realize that, in a few weeks, she wouldn't be his leader anymore. He would be her equal, and she was more worried about if he could prove that he was a Praetor.

Jason had completed every task though. But he lacked _it_.

The Praetor feeling, that everyone would always be safe under his leadership.

He didn't have the confidence yet.

Which is exactly what Reyna took advantage of when they were in the arena.

Reyna was a legend when it came to training, and no one had beaten her in so long that people had given up trying. Well, everyone but Jason.

Jason couldn't understand why she always beat him when they should have been exactly alike. They were both taught the same thing by the same teacher, and Jason had been her favorite out of the two, getting him some special treatment. And their fighting style was so similar.

But Reyna knew his weaknesses, and, though he sometimes gave her trouble doing it, she was able to use that weakness and take the victory home.

Well, she _had_ been able to.

Neither of them knew what happened that day.

Their duel went as always, a routine performed so many times that it was becoming boring for everyone. And Reyna was reaching the point where she was tired of it and she was ready to end it like she always s did.

But then something happened.

The routine broke.

This alone caused suspicion in Reyna, and then the blunt fear hit her.

She couldn't _predict_ him anymore.

For the first time since they had started their daily routine of going to the arena, Reyna was flying blind.

And the pure boredom from the other matches had made Reyna lazy.

She seemed to empty out her arsenal at him, but he was still standing, despite how sickening the crack of breaking his nose had been.

And then Reyna couldn't handle it any longer.

Her body was limp as she fell to the floor, with his sword pressed up against her neck, earning a few drops of her red blood to stain the blade.

But it didn't matter that she was bleeding, covered in bruises, and in a considerable amount of pain.

None of it beat the force of shock.

Jason Grace.

Jason Grace had _beaten_ her.

Everyone stared at them both, unsure who was more shocked, Jason or Reyna.

Jason didn't know what to do.

He was frozen to standing there, watching the blood slowly build up on his sword.

Jason just realized that he had done it.

Maybe not yet though.

But he had set the events in motion that would lead him to proving himself to Reyna.

They both knew it.

Jason had the confidence that he had always lacked, and he had finally showed that he had been taught by the one and only Lupa and that he deserved to be Juno's champion. So maybe he hadn't exactly completed making her stop seeing him as a pretty boy.

But Reyna had never actually cared if he was a pretty boy.

He could be a pig for all she cared, as long as he Praetor in front of the people.

And that he was.

Finally.

After what felt like forever, Jason was able to move again, and he set out his hand to help pull Reyna up like she had done when she beat him. And, still staring at him, she accepted his help.

He motioned towards the sword, a silent gesture to ask if she wanted another round.

They both knew that neither of them wanted to.

Even if it hadn't been for the physical injuries, like Jason's nose that was gushing blood and clearly broken, the trauma of him beating her was too much to handle, and Reyna needed to take a deep breath to accept that it had _actually_ happened.

Reyna shook her head, somehow managing to keep her eyes locked on his.

"Maybe you're not as hopeless as I thought."

It wasn't what Jason had hoped for, but it was something.

"And you're not as perfect as I thought."

Reyna tried to keep a straight face, she really did.

But she cracked a smile anyway.

"You better be able to repeat that tomorrow, Kid," Reyna smirked, and Jason's lips formed a smile.

He doubted he would beat her the next morning, but he liked to pretend that he was sure he would.

Before Jason could make a smart-ass comment back, she pointed to his nose.

"You might want to get that looked at," Reyna spoke of the injury as if it was something she had all the time, like a scraped knee or a bruise.

He had almost forgotten about the broken nose, but, when she brought it up, he could feel it again.

As Jason started towards the infirmary, she went home, still thinking about Jason Grace.

* * *

It took almost a month for things to finally come to the point where she had accepted defeat from Jason Grace.

Jason would often wake up early in the morning and linger around to wait to see Reyna stomp up to him and tell him that he had indeed proved himself to her, but it never happened. He was beginning to think that none of it had mattered when she made her announcement.

Or what was considered an announcement by Reyna standards.

It had been no shock when Jason was voted to be the next Praetor alongside her.

The entire night, she watched him but didn't say anything, peaking over the shoulder of her friends while they weren't looking and praying that Jason didn't notice, but he did because he was doing the same thing, waiting for her to come up to him and admit that he had fulfilled his promise.

Reyna wasn't sure why she was watching him, and she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to him now.

Finally, as the party started to cool down, he gave up on her coming to him and walked over to Reyna.

"So, I'm Praetor," he began awkwardly, and she nodded.

"Congratulations, Jason."

Jason.

Not Grace.

That right there was another step closer, but Jason still wanted her to say it.

"You'll do well," Reyna nodded, not sure how to tell him that he had succeeded.

It was clear to everyone but him that she believed that he earned the place he was today, but she knew that she would have to spell it out for him.

Jason finally decided that he would have to just ignore the confession from Reyna, and he nodded towards the drink table.

"I'm going to get a drink, want one?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Jason knit his eyebrows in confusion.

"I expect you up and bushy tailed tomorrow morning. You've got a lot to learn, Kiddo, and little time to learn it," Reyna kept her eyes hard as she looked at Jason, but, somehow, it finally got through Jason's head that he was Praetor now.

And she saw him as such.

Jason smiled, which made a slight grin form on Reyna's face.

"You may not get the bushy tailed, but I'll be up."

"I hope you realize what you're getting into," she kept her eyes on his, but it didn't feel threatening this time.

It felt…_friendly_.

And it was at that moment that he realized just how beautiful Reyna actually was.

For years, he had always thought of her too intimidating to ever think of as pretty, but he could suddenly see it.

Jason almost became mesmerized about the way the moon reflected off her dark eyes, which reminded him of the kind of Hershey's bars that kids begged their parents to buy when they went to the grocery store.

After a long time, Jason finally snapped out of it and nodded.

"I do."

"I'll see you in the morning," Reyna nodded towards her friends, who were watching her with Jason.

After the big incident of him beating her in the Arena, everyone had kept a close eye on the two, especially when they were together.

Jason knew he would be teased by his friends when he got back to them, as would she, but neither of them cared.

He had finally proven himself to Reyna, and nothing could break this high.

"How early are we talkin though?"

"Good night, Jason," Reyna smiled, shaking her head, walking away.

"I'm serious!" he tried, but Reyna kept laughing.

He wasn't exactly sure what he had gotten himself into when it came to Reyna, but he was surprisingly not worried about it like he knew he should have been.

He knew that there would be days where it would be all he could do not to strangle her, and he usually would have steered away from anything like that. But, somehow, when it came to Reyna, he couldn't help himself.

"Jason?"

He looked back to his friends, who were waiting for him.

"Come on! You're just standing there!" they called him over, and he took one last good look at Reyna with her friends before starting towards the guys.


	3. You Don't Like Me

_You Don't Like Me_

* * *

It had been four weeks since Jason had been voted Praetor, and Reyna had to admit that he was good at it. Maybe she still saw him as a little too nice for his own good, and she often found herself thinking that he spent too much time talking to the people than protecting them.

But he was good at it.

And they loved him.

So, she bit her tongue and kept quiet.

Jason didn't like this though.

The night he had been sworn in, they had gotten along, showed promise to one day be friends.

But, the next morning, she had clammed up again, and nothing seemed to have changed since they first met.

Nothing could match the defeat in Jason as he came over that morning and she was exactly the same. Jason wasn't sure what he wanted to happen, but he knew that it wasn't this.

Jason had thought that smile meant something. That maybe he was _The One_, the legendary person that everyone had imaged would come along and change Reyna. That he would be the one to get past those walls and find the girl underneath.

But it _hadn't_.

Or, if it had, she hadn't showed it.

Reyna wasn't sure what it meant, if it meant anything at all.

But she felt like it did, and she didn't like that_._

She was Reyna.

_Praetor Reyna._

Strong. Never affected by emotions. Or _anything_ for that matter.

So, getting truly attached to someone was out of the question.

There was something about Jason though. He was so… _Jason._ He just made you want to _laugh_ and _smile_ and, well, _like him._ Reyna had always known that everyone loved him, but she had never thought about it or asked why.

Knowing him now, she saw why, and she was beginning to worry that she would one day be like them.

Which is why Reyna was determined _not_ to ever get attached to him, especially not to _fall in love_ with him.

But he was making it so _hard!_

He tried and tried to get her to like him.

Jason kept his eyes on Reyna, a little intimidated by how she zoned out when she was working on the plans for the newest security system that the City of New Rome had commissioned and left in their capable hands.

She pretended not to notice, keeping her eyes glued to the page, but she couldn't help but peak up at him.

He smiled weakly when he noticed that she looked up, and she tried not to moan.

"What is it, Jason?" Reyna asked as she flipped the page on the possible cameras, trying to decide if it was worth HD or not.

"Nothing," he shook his head, still with that weird smile, and Reyna raised her eyebrows.

Reyna thought Jason was weird, or at least that was what she told her friends and _herself_.

But she sadly understood most of his odd quirks since she had similar things herself.

Everything but that odd little smile of his when he looked at her like that.

That she was still able to complain about.

"Then you're staring, why?" she forced herself to seem uninterested as she used her Sharpie to mark something in the book she held.

Jason really had to think about it.

He didn't know why he was staring, but he was pretty sure that telling her it would end up in her rolling her eyes and telling him to grow a pair and shut up, which she had said once but Jason had remembered forever.

And he couldn't think of a lie.

"Just seeing what you chose," Jason told her, mentally kicking himself for such a lame excuse.

"I think we should do this one," she told him, pushing a stray hair falling out of her braid behind her ear, and she moved the book towards him, "What do you think?"

Jason wasn't sure what he thought about it.

He was good at this, yes, but no one had ever been able to compare to Reyna.

And he was praying that she would rub off on him.

"Uh, yeah," Jason agreed, pushing the book back to her, and she nodded as she marked the page and put into her bag.

"How are my two favorite Praetors doing?" Gwen walked up to the two, putting her notepad with the other customers orders in her pocket.

She and Reyna had been friends for a long time, and Gwen tried to be a big sister to her since Hylla was with the Amazons.

"We're your only Praetors," Reyna smirked, leaning back into the booth, smiling up at her friend.

"Which is why you're my _favorite,"_ Gwen smirked, "And, hey Newbie."

She ruffled Jason's hair, and he laughed.

"Newbie?"

"You're the new one, Reyna's student. Her pupil. Her protégé," Gwen was about to rattle on for new names, but Lewis cut her off.

"Gwen, there are people here who need their food!" he yelled out for Gwen, his voice carrying through the diner of New Rome.

"I'll see you later, okay?" Gwen quickly told Reyna as she hurried back to the kitchen, thinking of the choice words she had for her boss.

Jason began to wish that he could be close to Reyna like Gwen.

To know what made her mad and what made her smile instead of screwing up all the time.

"I'm heading home," Reyna smiled weakly as she pulled her bag over her shoulder, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll walk with you," Jason told her before she could say anything else about it, and she shrugged in agreement.

He knew that he was running out of groceries and that he still had his friend holding a cart full at the grocery store, but he couldn't help it.

It didn't take long for the two of them to weave expertly through the town and towards their two houses.

Jason felt like a rookie every time he was with Reyna. He felt like he was truly being trained by her.

Sometimes he liked it, sometimes he didn't.

He didn't like it now.

He felt like his home was really _her_ town, not his.

"I think I finally figured it out, you know," Jason smiled as he broke the small talk and brought up a real topic.

"Figured what out?" she raised her eyebrows, looking to him.

"You really just don't like me."

_Did he seriously just ask that?_ Reyna began to wonder as she watched him.

She didn't know if she liked him or not, and it was driving her insane, too.

"Okay?" it was supposed to be a statement, but it felt more like a question.

"I mean, I thought it was because you didn't like me because you thought I was a pretty boy," Jason began, "But you just don't like me."

She wanted to tell him that he was being stupid, but she couldn't do it.

"Why do you seem to so happy about that?"

"Because you don't like me, I get to start over again. And I have more to prove to you," Jason smiled weakly.

He knew that he had repeatedly said this to everyone.

That he had something to prove to Reyna so that she could see that he was just as good at all this as she was, but he didn't mean to make it seem impossible.

He really thought that he could do it.

But that it was taking a while longer than he wanted it to…

"Start all over?"

"I don't have to be Mr. Nice Guy with you."

_Mr. Nice Guy?_

"I can be Jason," he continued.

"Jason _isn't_ Mr. Nice Guy," Reyna'a jaw dropped without her realizing it.

She tried to close her mouth and pretend that she wasn't shocked, but she felt like she was going to pass out from the immediate force of seeing that he actually wasn't that guy that she had always thought he was.

He stared at her, trying not to laugh even though he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh from the shock or how she had thought he was just that pushover she had always thought he was.

"You think I came this high in ranks from being Mr. Nice Guy?" he raised his eyebrows, and Reyna was shocked to see how he was taking on this secret dark side of his.

Reyna tried not to seem shocked though, like she had always known him to be such.

"Well then why do you keep that around?"

Reyna had gotten rid of her 'Mr. Nice Guy' years ago, and she didn't see much need for one.

"I guess so people will like me."

Jason didn't always like to be the nice guy everyone saw him as, but he wasn't a stone hearted Praetor either.

He was in between, and he wasn't sure how to show that.

Or what would happen if he did…

Juno had often told him that he should stop trying to just have people like him, but he wasn't sure how to do it. Which is why Juno had been so keen on the idea of Reyna working with Lupa.

Actually, that was why she _demanded_ that Lupa not wait to have him as a Praetor but to have him work with Reyna before she retired.

Juno saw the hero in Jason. She saw the man he could become, and she was tired of waiting around for it.

If anyone could give Jason a crash course, it would be Reyna, and that was why Juno picked her above anyone else she could have entered into his life.

"It doesn't matter if people like you. You have a job to do, and, if you do it, you're fine."

"But what if no one likes you and you lose your position to an idiot just because people won't take care of him?" Jason crossed his arms, and Reyna shrugged.

"They'll figure out their mistake quickly and reelect you."

Jason rolled his eyes.

He was serious about being happy that she didn't like him though.

Jason didn't want to have to be the perfect hunk that he was to everyone else.

Sometimes, it felt like so much work to not explode when everything else was falling apart. To smile and make jokes about his job when all he wanted to do was talk about anything else. To go out with his friends when he really wanted to sleep.

And he knew that he would have to spend more time with Reyna than anyone else, being almost joined at the hip.

He didn't want to have to pretend with her, too.

Not that she had ever fallen for it when he tried.

She could tell what he was feeling since she often felt the same way, and she didn't care if he smiled politely or carried on a conversation in the early morning hours when they were still working together.

All she wanted him to do was pour the coffee and do his job, even if that meant being as crabby as her.

And, even though her disregard for social etiquette also drove him mad sometimes, he had to admit that he found it refreshing.

With Reyna, he felt like he could start over.


	4. Trusting By Twizzlers

_Trusting By Twizzlers_

* * *

It was edging on midnight as Jason looked up to the clock on Reyna's wall.

He felt like an old man.

It was Friday night and the middle of July.

July in New Rome was a big deal, it was the partying time of the year. Everyone was getting wasted and getting ready for a long year of working in the army. Jason was supposed to be one of them, out with the guys. It was the only time of the year where he wanted to and could _get away with_ partying until dawn.

But Jason felt like he was about to fall asleep on a pile of paperwork in front of him this July.

He couldn't understand how Reyna was able to function so well without sleep.

Reyna had once thought that about the Praetor that had trained her.

He survived on blueberry Poptarts and coffee alone, telling her that you could train your body to do anything. Though she still didn't quite like him, she admired him and thanked him for all that he had taught her.

If it hadn't been for his teachings, Reyna would have collapsed from exhaustion her first year on the job.

Jason tried to remind himself that Reyna had been doing this for two years and had been training for it before then, but it still annoyed him that she could power through all of the basic human needs that limited him, like hunger, thirst, and exhaustion.

Reyna came back into the office, tapping her foot on Jason's side to wake him up, and, as he snapped out of it, she plopped down on the floor across from him.

"Are you not tired?" Jason asked.

He hadn't really slept in days.

From training to working, he just needed to sleep for the next year or two.

Jason had always thought that Reyna didn't have much of a life, but he saw now that she kept up an amazing social life considering how busy she was.

Whenever he got to his house, he didn't want to call up the boys for a game of late-night basketball. He just wanted to turn off the lights and pass out on the soft bed.

"Of course I am," Reyna admitted, taking a long sip from her can of root beer, and she bit into a green apple Twizzler, her all-time favorite.

They were her secret addiction.

She kept them in the house at all times, and, when she could get away with it, she kept a little baggie of them in her armor when she knew she wouldn't be around ants.

Every Praetor had a secret food addictions.

The Praetor she trained with was addicted to blueberry poptarts.

The first girl who served with him had a problem with Monster Energy Drinks.

And the boy who trained her was obsessed with Kit-Kats.

And Jason hadn't realized it yet, but his Praetor-addiction was coming in the form of grape Gatorade.

"Then how do you do it?" Jason asked, almost pleading to find out.

Reyna shrugged.

She honestly wasn't sure.

She was just used to it by now/

"Well, what do we have left?" Jason asked, ruffling his blonde hair.

The war was another year away, but that was a blink of an eye when you were leading New Rome and the Roman army. Reyna didn't dare get behind on her work for it, and Jason didn't dare question her on that either.

"Orders for swords, which design did you say you liked best?"

"Uh… the pointy one?"

Reyna tried not to crack a smile as she looked up from a status report on the armory.

"The one with the SPQR. With the thinner body. We'll need to have more sword classes though to teach them how to use it though," Jason told her quickly, trying to work through his brain fog, and Reyna nodded.

"I'll get in touch with Emmanuel in the morning, see what's possible," Reyna nodded, taking another bite of her Green Apple Twizzler.

Jason kept his eyes on her and the Twizzlers, and she peaked over the report to look back at him.

She often did this, though she usually didn't know why, but she was shocked to see that his crystal blue eyes were watching her, too.

He was often referred to being just as handsome as the gods they share their DNA with. His blonde hair was always a perfect boyish mess, and those cheekbones had caught the attention of plastic surgeon's everywhere, wondering how they could give that to their clients. And, even if he hadn't had the definition of facial perfection, his body alone could have made him loved by all.

Though he basically did the same work outs as the others in the Roman Camp, it had just kind of stuck to him. People had often said that he should have been Adonis, not Jason. But he had never really thought about it. He always thought they were joking, not that they were serious.

Reyna hated when she noticed it, how absolutely perfect he was.

It was only natural it happened, but she wished it wouldn't.

"What?" she finally asked, and he moved his beautiful blue eyes to the Twizzler.

"You like Twizzlers a lot, huh?" he smirked, and she shrugged, biting into a new one.

"I like them."

"Like shareable like them? Or _Touch-My-Twizzler-and-Die_ kind of like?" Jason asked as he took a swig of grape Gatorade, and Reyna decided to go ahead and give him the warning.

"The latter. Definitely. I don't even share them with _Hylla_."

Jason raised his eyebrows, and Reyna nodded.

"If you had to choose between dating and Twizzlers, which one would it be?"

"Twizzlers," Reyna didn't even have to think about it, "No one gets between me and my Twizzlers."

_**XXXX**_

Jason grew on Reyna, though she didn't care to admit it. And Reyna _definitely_ grew on Jason.

He was slowly becoming a Praetor.

It was actually pretty fast, but it felt like a snail's pace to Jason.

And he didn't realize it, but Reyna took notice of all of it.

Breaking up fights in the dining hall just by one look. Opting to work out a deal with a trainer and be late for breakfast, even though they were serving his all-time favorite food. Finally telling Octavian that, as his superior, he actually _did_ have to do what he said. And everything in between.

If anything, she was actually _proud_ of him, though she never told him that.

Instead, she showed her pride in herself from taking Jason Grace, playboy son of Jupiter, and turning him into a Praetor.

Juno was the only one who made her feelings clear on the subject.

She loved what Jason had become thanks to Reyna, and she especially loved how close they were getting.

Though there were a million other girls that were probably a better choice, Juno had always wanted Reyna and Jason together, and she had been trying for _years_. But, for the same reasons Juno wanted Reyna to be with Jason, she wasn't with him.

This was a job.

And Jason was her co-worker.

Maybe they could be something later, when they have finished their work and actually _had time._

And, anyway, Jason didn't get with girls like her.

He got with girls like Lauren, leader of the Venus girls. Or Becca, who was one of the most beautiful girls in the world. And Reyna…

Well, Reyna was Reyna.

And she knew that.

She was pretty, yes, but she didn't take the time to be pretty like them. Or to be as sweet as them.

So, for now they were friends. Not close friends but friends.

Jason was thinking about that as Reyna quickly wrote off a reminder on her frig to go grocery shopping.

It was almost the end of July, and he had given up any chance of partying this year.

_Maybe next year,_ he told himself, but he highly doubted it.

Reyna didn't even seem to notice that it was Party-July though.

She had gone out with her friends once or twice, but she had never been one to take notice of Party-July.

Reyna felt her stomach grumble as she got on her tippy-toes to reach the hidden stash of junk food that she kept around for times like this.

With New Rome wanting a huge security change, they had been working all the time. And, like many nights before, they had quickly eaten at dinner and didn't realize they were still hungry until their stomach rumbled at midnight, when the dining hall closed.

And Reyna hadn't taken the time this morning to replenish her low supply of food.

Jason grabbed a strawberry Gatorade and a box of saltines before they both started back to the office, which was littered with papers.

"What did Levi say?" Reyna asked as she sat down on the floor since the couch was currently holding a spear.

"He said that he wanted to talk to you about it," Jason rolled his eyes, and Reyna moaned.

"Crap."

"What did Suzie say about keeping the Venus girls in line?"

"You know she hates me. She just kept acting like I was being a jerk about them and everything," Reyna shook her head, pushing her hair behind her ears, "You probably need to talk to her tomorrow."

Reyna's problems with the Venus girls happened way back. They first didn't like her because she didn't quite care how she looked, but it had grown as the years went on. Reyna a good friend, Natalie, who was a granddaughter of Venus and one of the most tomboy girls she had ever met, but some of the Venus girls didn't seem to care about that.

They just assumed that since Reyna gave Vivie and her gym coach (AKA father of her daughter, Mona) full punishment when Lucas, who Vivie said was the father, ordered a blood test because Mona had blue eyes and the genetics said she should have had blue.

"She's the blonde one, right?"

"There are _ten_ blonde ones, Jason."

"Right…" Jason hit his head against the wall, "Do you have something sweet in your stash?"

"Here," Reyna didn't even think about it.

Jason's blue eyes widened as he looked at Reyna.

_Her Twizzler._

She didn't even share those with her _sister_, who raised her.

Jason couldn't believe it.

But Reyna didn't even notice, she just kept working.

It felt…_natural._

_Right_, even.

"Thanks," a soft smile spread on Jason's lips, and his blue eyes softened towards the brunette as he took the candy. Reyna _still_ didn't notice.

But, as Reyna reached for another Twizzler and Jason took a bite of his, Reyna froze as she realized what she had done.

Not even Gwen had earned the right to have her Twizzlers.

But Jason had…

Jason.

_Pretty Boy_ Jason.

The boy she _didn't like_.

The guy who hadn't had the confidence to become Praetor.

But that wasn't Jason anymore…

Or, at least, not to _her_.

Jason was…

Well, he was _Jason._

The real Jason, or the Jason he became when he was around Reyna.

Reyna still couldn't believe it though…

Jason had been right.

Jason had been able to get _the_ Praetor Reyna to like him.

But, strangely, Reyna didn't care.

She didn't want to get attached to him because she didn't like getting attached to _anyone_, but she found that she already was. And it was too late to do anything about it now.

Because it was at this moment that Jason and Reyna became friends.


	5. Your Name Didn't Get You Here, You Did

_Your Name Didn't Get You Here, You Did_

"Oh, right, the _newbie_ wouldn't know to do that," Octavian gloated.

Jason had been Praetor for almost two months, and he had come a long way.

As Reyna's person protégé, Jason learned more about the world than he honestly wanted to know. But he knew that this all made him a good Praetor.

All of the late nights of working. The meals he skipped to get in touch with people he needed to make deals with. The parties he missed. The personal jokes with his friends that he didn't get because he wasn't there. The pains in his neck that he got from falling asleep on the couch with books as his pillow.

Maybe he wasn't quite into the groove yet, but he was getting there.

And he felt pride for how fast he had become a good Praetor.

Even more, he felt pride for what had happened with Reyna.

They were so different…

Everything was different for the two. From their stances on relationships (Jason liked to put his heart on his sleeve, and Reyna was hesitant to do anything of the sort) to their fighting styles, the two Praetors were on different sides of the fence.

But something stuck them together.

Maybe its opposites attract.

But… maybe it was something else.

Jason looked at Reyna, and she rolled her eyes.

"Back off, Octavian," Reyna crossed her arms, and Octavian kept staring.

He had not kept it to himself that he thought that electing Jason would change Reyna. He told anyone that would listen that he thought that she would fall for Jason, just like every other girl did. And he would go on about how she would get soft and be so consumed with her new _beau_ to think about Rome.

Reyna had felt anger rise in her every time she heard the rumor.

Despite herself, she cared about it.

She had spent so long proving herself. She worked herself to the bone to get where she was. When the other girls were gossiping and blushing at boys, Reyna was getting in extra sword practice and beating those boys to a pulp in the arena.

Reyna had given up the life of a normal girl because she wanted to be here.

And it made her sick when people treated her like she was some Venus girl, drooling over boys and passing notes with all the latest gossip in Math Class.

But Reyna pretended that none of that bothered her as Octavian turned back to look at her.

"Protecting your little boyfriend, eh?"

"Aren't there some dolls you need to go play with?"

Octavian narrowed his eyes.

As he marched away, Jason let out a small smile to Reyna.

"You didn't have to do that," Jason nudged her, and she smiled.

"I did not do that for you."

He kept smiling, teasing her as he often did.

"Oh really?" Jason smirked as he crossed his arms, and Reyna narrowed her eyes.

"Yes really," Reyna told him, and she was trying not to seem flustered.

But she was.

That drove her insane, too.

This was Jason.

She didn't do it for him!

But why did she do it then?

"Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to tell him off?" Reyna finally came up with something.

Any other time, Jason would have kept teasing her until she finally closed a door in his face and told him to shut up from her window. But, since it was Octavian, he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Jason asked as he wriggled out of his purple robe and pulled his tee shirt back on.

Reyna shrugged as she tried not to stare at him.

_He deserves the title Adonis,_ Reyna mentally noted as she reached a shirt from under her desk and ducked behind a screen in the Senate, which she often used to change behind.

With her old Praetor, they hadn't cared if they saw each other naked or not. So shirtless was no problem.

But there was something different about Jason, in this respect and just about every other respect.

"I don't know," Reyna told him as she pulled her tee shirt on.

Jason didn't feel weird about changing in front of Reyna. He often had to do it since he was around her all of the time. But he had to admit that it felt weird when she changed beside him.

Maybe it was the fact that it was unlike her.

Gwen had always teased her that she was so busy with her job that Gwen was surprised Reyna just didn't walk out naked. And, honestly, Reyna wouldn't have cared if anyone saw her. Anyone but Jason…

"What are you doing?" Reyna asked.

"I was thinking about going out with the guys."

"I think I'm going to sleep for the next ten years," Reyna smirked as she walked back from the screen, folding up her robes.

"Reyna? Sleep past eight? Has such a thing ever happened?"

Reyna liked the bantering.

It gave her something to smile at when she just wanted to strangle some people.

He was funny, she would give him that.

She wasn't sure why she had hated him for so long.

Had he always been like this? Had she just been prejudice against his pretty face?

No, he had changed for her.

People were beginning to notice.

Some people liked it, Juno in particular, and some people didn't.

Jason wasn't sure how he felt about it.

In some way, he missed the way he was.

He missed being innocent.

Well, he hadn't been innocent.

He had been a hero, a great hero.

But he wasn't Reyna.

Jason knew what heroes knew. He protected Rome, and he served it well. But he didn't know what it was like to _be_ Rome, to know just how hard it was to keep the lives inside the city as peaceful and wonderful as possible.

No one could have warned him how hard it was.

Sometimes, like Praetors before him, he just wanted to curl up in his bed and never open his eyes. To dream of something better, where there were no ancient prophecies or Greeks to worry about. He wanted to go back to the way it had been when he was just another Adonis parading the streets and keeping the monsters at bay.

You can't stay both, you know.

Civilian and Praetor.

Along the way, you have to give up one.

And Reyna was trying to ease the blow for Jason.

She didn't want him to feel the horrible pain and desperation that comes with sometimes having to lose your humanity to keep the humanity of everyone else, to make sure that they didn't have to make decisions like that.

He would though. He would have to make choices that he would think about in the middle of the night. He would still have to see those faces in the shadows that were no longer among them because of him. He would still have to watch the widows or the children or the old friends cry.

Reyna desperately wished that he didn't.

She wanted him to hold on to the last shred of innocence that he had.

The innocence that she had lost long ago…

Reyna's teachings made him strong.

But strong enough?

She prayed so.

"I was Reyna long before I was Praetor Reyna," Reyna reminded Jason.

"What was she like?"

Reyna stared at him.

"What?"

"Reyna. Before work. Before crisis. Before rule. What was she like?"

Reyna was caught off guard.

She had never been asked that before…

What was she like?

She wasn't like _this_. She wasn't so hard. She wasn't so rigid.

"I was determined. I was hot-headed, too. It didn't take much to get me angry, and Rome was always my favorite cause," Reyna smiled weakly as she thought back to it, "I just wanted to get here though…"

"Would Reyna have given me a chance?" Jason let out a playful smile.

But he meant it.

"Definitely not," Reyna was sure on that point, "Handsome son of Jupiter who is also the star hero? No, no. I would have thought you had everything handed to you because of your good looks and parentage. I never would have even talked to you, much less made an impression on you."

"But didn't I get everything handed to me because of Daddy and Mommy's good looks?" Jason laughed about it, but he really wondered about it.

Would people still cheer for him if he had been just Jason?

Son of a random god with average looks?

Or was it the gimmick?

That someone so handsome could be so caring. That someone so sweet could be so strong. That someone could be so serious and so funny. That someone who could get away with looking pretty and dating all the beautiful girls actually tried to make his home a better place.

He wondered if he had earned his rank or if it had been a perk that came with the birth certificate.

"You wouldn't have cared if I thought that though. As I said before, I would have made no impression you like I did now."

"You would have."

Jason meant it.

He was sure that Reyna would have caught his interest like she had now.

"Why would I? We would have had nothing in common. We would have had different friends. Completely different lives. You never would have even noticed me, I promise you."

He knew that he may have not earned her respect if they hadn't been in this situation as co-rulers. He knew that they probably wouldn't be friends, but he also knew what he probably wouldn't have sought out friendship. But what else would he have tried for?

Reyna was probably his best friend.

He couldn't imagine ever… _dating_ her. But, somehow, he had a feeling that he might have if they hadn't been Praetors together.

"You're pretty hard to miss, Reyna," Jason admitted, "And a hot-headed you? I would have been _blind_ not to see you."

"Shut up," Reyna playfully narrowed her eyes at him, and he smirked.

"Now were you always this bossy?"

"You're walking on thin ice, Grace."

"I'm going to leave before you kill me," Jason raised his hands in surrender, "Besides, Jonas will eat all of the chips if I'm too late."

"Bye," Reyna pulled her bag on her shoulder, adjusting her braid behind her back, and he nodded his goodbye.

But Reyna stopped him before he made it out of the door.

"You didn't get everything handed for you because of your good looks and your dad."

He stopped at the door and stared at her.

"I mean, things have been easier for you. But I think you have a lot to prove, too. To match your dad's name," Reyna hesitated, "But your name didn't get you here. You did."

Jason felt a smile spread.

"Thanks, Reyna."

Reyna stood there.

She wasn't sure how to act now.

Should she say something more or just walk away?

"Well," Reyna finally spoke, "I've got to get groceries before it closes. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Jason nodded, a gentle smile on his perfect lips.

He had known that Reyna was changing him.

But was he changing the illustrious Reyna?

Or was there someone underneath the armor wanting to get out?

He didn't know, but he did know that he was shocked by this new Reyna he kept seeing.

"Good night, Jason," Reyna told him as she started to the door, a reminder to start walking again.

* * *

_**I didn't really know where I was going with this chapter.**_

_**But I knew I wanted Reyna to tell Octavian off…**_

_**Anyway, hope you liked it! Just got my new cell phone and can't stop playing with it!**_


	6. Reyna's Nickname

_**Reyna's Nickname**_

* * *

"You look good as a blonde," Jason smirked as he put the blonde wig on his best friend.

Reyna narrowed her chocolate brown eyes.

They were in the Halloween section of the clothes store in New Rome because Jason was looking for a Halloween costume. His best friend was throwing the big Halloween party that everyone was talking about, and he was determined to win the costume contest this year.

"How about this? Then no one has to see your face," Reyna held up a gorilla suit, and he smiled wider.

"But my Adonis-face is what is going to make me win, Rey-Rey."

Reyna rolled her eyes.

She hated when he called her Rey-Rey.

For the last month, he had been trying to find the right nickname for Reyna.

He had tried Shorty, but she was only two inches shorter. He tried to call her _Count Chocula_ for her chocolate brown eyes, but she would return it with _Captain Crunch_, which had caught on with his friends. He was now calling her Rey-Rey, but it didn't feel right.

"How about Hercules?" Reyna held up a costume bag, "It'll show off those abs of yours."

"How about you go as Venus?" Jason held up the bag with the sexy pink and white dress.

Reyna raised her eyebrows as he handed her the dress, silently asked if he had taken one too many blows to the head during training.

"Or you could go as Venus. You'll get points for originality," Reyna shoved the dress back at him, and he quickly put the dress back before Reyna would buy it and make him wear it.

"I could go as Justin Bieber," Jason picked up a microphone, and Reyna smiled as she nudged him.

"As long as I can take pictures."

"Kinky."

She shoved him.

"Why are you even dressing up? I thought that was for seven year olds," Reyna took off the blonde wig and looked through the costumes on the wall, trying to find something for Jason so that they could leave already.

Reyna playfully put the cop hat on him, and he held up a caveman costume.

She shook her head, and he put a princess crown on her as a joke as he looked through more costumes.

But he had to admit that it fit his regal Reyna.

She fit her name better than she would ever know.

Queen.

If he didn't know her as Praetor Reyna, he would have believed it in a heartbeat if someone said that she was queen of some island. When he was first announced as Praetor and sat down on the Praetor-Throne, he could have sworn that Reyna was queen.

It was the one time a year when she wore make-up and didn't have her hair in a braid down her back. Her hair had been curled and framed her face. Her high cheek bones were complimented with light blush, and her thick lips had been painted a light red.

Now Jason couldn't have told you all that.

But he could tell you that she looked beautiful.

"So what are you going as?" Jason asked as he held up a costume for her approval.

Reyna shook her head at the costume as she put the crown up.

"I am going as a girl in her pajamas with a bag of Kit-Kats and Netflixs," Reyna shrugged as handed him a costume.

"You're not going?"

"I never go."

"But he invited you."

Everyone in New Rome had been dying to get an invite.

Even the adults secretly wanted to come to the party.

"He invites me every year. I'm Praetor after all," Reyna shrugged.

"I've never seen you there."

"I never go."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," Reyna shrugged as she picked up the right costume for him.

"But everyone wants to go."

"Not me."

Jason gave up as Reyna held up the costume, and he took the bag when she handed it to him.

"I'll try it."

It wasn't what Jason would ever pick out.

But he wasn't going to question Reyna, and he had no other options anyway.

Reyna waited by the changing room area as he tried it on, looking through crowns and hats for Halloween, and Jason found himself staring at himself in the mirror.

"She was right," he mumbled, shaking his head, "Who am I kidding? She's always right."

_Not that I would ever tell her that,_ Jason reminded himself, and he was about to go show how great her suggestion had been when he saw Ella.

"Jay-Jay!" Ella dropped the princess costume, which her mother quickly struggled to pick up, and Ella ran to Jason, who greeted her with a big hug.

"Hey, Shorty," Jason ruffled Ella's black curls, making her brown eyes light up like a Christmas tree.

Ella suddenly reminded him of Reyna.

_I'm seeing Reyna everywhere,_ Jason thought, _It must be because I am with her so much…_

"'hy haven't 'ou been babysitting 'e?" the cute little four year old asked, and Jason smiled.

"Well, I've been busy. I have a lot of work to do now."

"Hey, Jason," Reilly smiled at him.

Reilly had basically raised him.

And he loved her like his mom.

Well, he loved her more than he liked his real mother.

He felt a shudder ran down his spine as he thought of his mothe.r

He never brought her up to anyone, _ever._ Even if people asked, he pretended that he didn't remember anything about his mom. But he did, and he wished he could forget her.

He wished he could forget Thalia…

"Hey, Reilly."

"Mommy, I 'iss Jay-Jay!"

"Sweetie, he's busy with work."

"How about I come and babysit you next week? You and Jordan can have a date night," Jason smiled up at Reilly.

"I might just take you up on that," Rielly smiled at Jason, and Jason was about to put a crown on Ella's curls when he heard someone walk up behind him.

"Hey, Jason, I'm going to get out of here. I'll-"

Reyna stopped mid-sentence when she saw Ella and Reilly.

"You were right about the costume," Jason stood for Reyna to see the Luke Skywalker outfit, and Reyna stared at him.

"Did you just admit I was right?"

"Uh-"

"You said that I was right."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did.'

"Well, I meant that you were-"

"Say it again."

"Say what?"

"Say I was…" Reyna motioned for him to continue.

"Wearing sneakers."

Reyna was about to make him say that she was right when Ella tugged on Jason's hand.

"Who the pwetty 'irl?" Ella pointed to Reyna.

"Oh, uh, this is Reyna. Reyna this is Ella," Jason tried not to blush.

"Is she 'ur girl-fwiend?"

This time Jason couldn't help but to turn red.

"We work together," Reyna quickly told her, trying to stop herself from turning crimson.

"You're Praetor Reyna?"

"Yes," Reyna turned her attention to Reilly, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"I'm Rielly James. This is my daughter, Ella," Reilly smiled down to her daughter, who was showing her costume to Jason, telling him about all the places she was going to go to when she was trick-or-treating.

"She's adorable," Reyna smiled at the little girl.

"And she just loves Jason. He's been babysitting her since she was a year old," Rielly smiled at the two of them, and Reyna nodded.

"'Ou wook good, Jay-Jay," Ella told her as Reyna and Reilly kept talking.

"Thanks, Cutie," Jason told her as he put a hot pink crown in her hair.

"Are you trying to wook good for her?" Ella looked to Reyna, and Jason blushed again.

"Reyna and I are just friends."

"But do 'ou wike her?"

"I like her. But as a friend. I think she's cool."

"Do 'ou want her to be your girl-fwiend?"

"I said we're friends, Ella."

"But do 'ou want to be her boyfwiend?"

"Come on. Let's go try on your princess dress, okay?" Jason asked, trying to get her off the subject of Reyna.

This Reyna heard, and she quickly remembered her plans to go buy candy before it sold out.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jason. I have to get to the store before they run out of candy."

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the party?"

"Yeah, you go. Have fun. Win the contest," Reyna nodded to him, "Bye, Rielly. And, bye, Ella."

"Bye, Weyna!" Ella waved, and Reyna smiled at the cute little girl.

_**The Party:**_

Jason watched everyone around him.

His friends. People he didn't know. People he wished he didn't know. Even ex-girlfriends.

They were all having fun, dancing along to the dance-remix versions of old Halloween songs.

A few months ago, Jason would have been leading this. He would be the star on the dance floor. By now, he would be chatting up a girl. He would have stained his white outfit with the red spiked punch and the glitter from all of the girls who dressed up like fairy's who were leaving glitter all over the dance floor. He would be laughing with his friends and putting the pictures of their fun on facebook.

But not now…

Tonight, he had spent most of his time talking to his friends. And, though he could feel the girl's eyes, he suddenly just didn't feel like flirting or dancing. So he just talked with his friends and had the candy.

He knew what everyone was thinking.

He was thinking it himself.

Who was he and what had he done with Jason Grace?

Jason Grace was the life of the party. He knew all the right things to say to girls. He knew what song to play, and he knew how to dance so that everyone else joined in. This was just his place, his scene.

But Jason Grace hadn't come to this party.

Praetor Jason had.

Jason was beginning to wonder if he would ever be Jason Grace again, the boy at the party.

He was beginning to wonder if he even wanted to be.

But the idea of giving it all up scared him.

Could he handle it?

Could he handle becoming this new person and saying goodbye to the old?

And what would happen to his friends after that?

As Jason adjusted his hat, which had been a joke from his friends for _Captain Crunch,_ Suzie kept her eyes trained on him, daydreaming.

Usually, Jason would have noticed her from across the room, but he was too busy thinking. He only noticed, when she came in, that she was wearing the sexy Venus outfit that he had teased Reyna with. Other than that, he didn't give much thought to the beautiful daughter of Venus.

But she gave notice to him.

She had been waiting to talk to him all night.

And he hadn't.

It was about to drive her insane, and she was applying more pink lipstick to get ready and talk to him.

But Jason was moving, too.

Suzie walked faster to get to him, but she couldn't catch up to him in the hot pink heels she had worn to match her dress.

"Hey, Brett."

Brett turned away from some pretty red head to his best friend.

"What, Dude?" Brett yelled over the pounding music.

"I'm getting out of here."

"Why? The party is just starting. And I think you're going to win the costume contest. Stick around."

"Nah, I'm out. I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe play some cards?"

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" he yelled again.

"Have fun!" Jason asked, not being able to hear him anymore.

"Alright! We'll miss you at the party!"

Jason nodded goodbye, and he tried to weave through the crowd again.

The music seemed to shake the floor, and Jason suddenly felt like he was getting headache.

"Gods, do I sound like an old man or what?" Jason mumbled, but he couldn't even hear it.

He moved past everyone, and he took a deep breath as he got out of the old building that had become the hottest club in New Rome. The music was still loud outside, but it was better. And only the building shook instead of the ground.

Jason took a deep breath as he got out of the building, and he walked away from the couples getting out of the club for _"alone time"_ and the girls lighting up in secret.

Jason took the usual route back, and he was about to go in his house and watch old horror movies with a bag of popcorn when he hesitated.

He grabbed a bag of candy and smiled to himself.

In the neighboring house, Reyna's night was going as planned.

She had started with the trick-or-treaters, and she had helped Gwen get into her costume for the party tonight. Reyna took a long shower and changed into her most comfortable pajamas while she waited for the popcorn to pop.

She mixed M&M's into her popcorn and watched the first old horror movie.

When the second one rolled around, she got the two bags of candy that she hadn't given out, and she reclined onto the couch with a movie about a swamp monster.

Reyna found herself thinking of the party.

_What were they doing?_ she would wonder, _What was Jason doing?_

She prayed he wasn't doing anything stupid that could make him lose his position soon.

She even checked facebook to see the pictures of the party.

But she didn't see Jason in any of them.

Then she began to feel guilty, wondering if she had told him too many times to be good so that he couldn't really enjoy himself.

Finally, to stop thinking about it, Reyna put on a headband to remind her it was Halloween, and she began to eat her fun-size snicker bars.

Right as Reyna was about to fall asleep on the couch, she heard the doorbell.

"Why are there Trick-or-Treaters now?" Reyna rubbed at her sleepy eyes as she walked over to the door, telling the person that she was coming so they didn't have to ring the doorbell again.

Reyna was shocked by the sudden bright white that she saw when she opened the door, and she had to blink her eyes a few time to tell what it was.

Jason smiled weakly at the doorstep, realizing he probably shouldn't have bothered her at this time of night.

She looked like she was about to fall asleep right here at the door.

Jason held up the candy, and Reyna kept staring.

"Mind if I come in?"

Reyna answered by pushing the door open more, and Jason smirked.

"How about some old horror movies, General?" Jason took off his hat, and she watched him in confusion.

How much had he had to drink?

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, General," Jason smiled, putting the hat on her head, "Just finding your new nickname."

* * *

_**I am going to keep writing this after Mark of Athena comes out, even if our stories don't really match.**_

_**Anyway, I hope you liked it.**_

_**If I don't get to sleep now, I am going to pass out on my keyboard.**_


	7. My Fairy Princess

_**My Fairy Princess**_

* * *

Halloween and come and past, and the decorations were gone on November 1st so fast that you began to question if they had ever been there. There were no more cute little Halloween streamers in the legions. No signs in New Rome. Nothing.

The day came and left just like that, the only reminder being the hangover or the big bag of candy you got the night before.

Though Jason hadn't been drinking much, he woke up with a horrible hang over that he blamed on all that candy he ate with Reyna the night before instead of the two glasses of spiked punch.

Reyna, on the other hand, slept blissfully, still wearing that stupid hat from the night before.

Jason decided against braving his hangover, and he went back to sleep, burying his face in a pillow to keep the sunlight away.

Reyna wasn't ignoring anything as she kept sleeping. When the news spread about the big Halloween party, they made up an excuse so that everyone could have today off. While that didn't mean that Reyna's work was gone for the day, it was gone for a few hours, just long enough to get that sleep she had been dying for.

She slept as long as she could until she knew that she had to get up.

Her alarm clock went off at ten like a firealarm.

Reyna groaned, used to the horrible noise but still hating it.

But she heard a scream from beside her.

Her reflexes took over before her brain could figure out where she knew the voice, and she kicked the person out of bed, earning a hard thud on the luxurious carpet floors.

Regret flooded her as she realized who had been sleeping beside her, and she peered over the side of the bed, smiling apologetically.

"What was that for?" Jason held his banging head, his body aching from the kick to his knee that had been powerful enough to knock the boy out of the bed.

"Why are you in my bed?"

Reyna took notice that this was the one time of day where Jason didn't look like a perfect god.

Still perfect, but not godly.

This time of day showed his humanly side.

His sleepy blue eyes. Blonde hair in a mess. Tired body, and the desperate look of wanting to back to sleep.

When Reyna went over to his house to wake him up, he looked differently. He usually had been up but just hadn't gotten out of bed. Though his eyes were still sleepy, his body had woken up, and so had most of his brain. Then there would be that sultry smile begging her to go back to bed, usually the bed being more tempting than him to Reyna in the early morning hours.

"You said I could sleep here," he forced himself to remember.

"Yeah, but then we fell asleep on the _couch_. Why are you _here_?"

"I don't know. I must have been sleep walking or something. How did you get up here?"

Reyna stopped and realized she _could_ remember sleepily coming up the stairs to her loft bedroom and collapsing on her soft bed, throwing a pillow at Jason when he laid down on the bed, too, but not telling him to get out.

As she kept remembering the night before, she began to remember when she woke up a little at three in the morning to find Jason's arms wrapped around her waist. Instead, she just fell back asleep.

Reyna shrugged in answer of Jason and she set out his hand to help him up.

Jason took her hand, and she helped him up, sitting on the bed as he massaged his temples.

"Dude, where did you learn to do that?" he rubbed his painful knee.

"Long story," she shrugged, and Jason decided to give up.

Reyna got out of bed and went to her closet, pulling out a pair of jeans and a random tee shirt.

"So, what happened at the party?" Reyna looked back to him, and he shrugged.

"Nothing much. Why?"

"Because you ditched it and showed up at my doorstep."

Jason hesitated.

"It wasn't the same," Jason admitted, "I don't know. I wasn't party boy anymore. It just wasn't as fun as I remembered it being…"

Reyna nodded, though she didn't quite know what he was talking about.w

While Jason had fun before getting this big responsibility, Reyna had been training most her life for this. When he was going to parties and New Rome's lady's man, Reyna was being voted in as Praetor.

She was only thirteen when her future co-praetor decided he wanted her as his next partner. When she was fourteen, she became the youngest Praetor ever, and everyone planned on voting her in until she decided to retire, which would probably only be when her ten years were up.

It made her proud, yes.

But it also made her tired.

And what would she do when this was over?

When she was all grown up. When she crowned a new female Praetor and walked away.

This was all she had ever really known…

"Why did you have to make me grow up?" Jason nudged her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Coming to breakfast or more sleep?"

"I don't think I can go to sleep after being kicked off the bed. I'll meet you over there," Jason pulled open the window, and she stared.

"What are you doing?"

"No walk of shame. The rumors are bad enough."

They were.

They pretended not to hear, but the gossip got worse with every time Jason fell asleep on her couch or every day where Reyna was the only human being he had time to talk to.

"So what? Suicide?"

Jason smiled.

"Yes, Reyna, I am going to commit suicide," he smirked.

"Seriously, Jason, what are you doing?"

He nodded towards his window.

"I left it unlocked," Jason pulled himself to the ledge of the window, and Reyna hurried to the window.

"That will never hold you, Jason," she pointed towards the closest branch of the tree separating their houses, and he rolled his eyes.

Reyna stopped, crossing her arms.

"Have you done this before?"

"No," he burned bright red.

"That's how you get here so fast in the morning! I never lock my window!"

"I do not do that!"

"Yes, you do," Reyna laughed, "I knew you weren't an early riser."

"I have not _done this before_. I-I just think it will work."

"Sure you do," Reyna rolled her chocolate brown eyes.

"Watch and learn, Queen."

"Queen?" Reyna rolled her eyes.

When she had told Jason that, it was just coming up in conversation.

Something you mention while ordering lunch. They were talking about his name, she thinks. Somehow, she brought up that her name meant queen. She barely remembered telling him that, but he had remembered this entire time.

"You told me," Jason smiled as he reached out to the branch, pulling himself quickly to the strong part of the tree and reaching for the ledge of his window, pulling himself up to it.

Reyna watched him, having to give him points for how well he was able to do it.

_Just another reminder of him being an Adonis,_ Reyna reminded herself.

"See you at breakfast," Jason smirked from his window.

"And I'll remember to lock my window," Reyna pulled the window down and the curtain across as she went to her bathroom and changed into her usual outfit of jeans and a tee shirt.

They both got dressed, and Jason swallowed two cups of coffee with a bunch of Tylenols.

Reyna pulled her Northface as the cold began to invade the warm Californian air. Her sneakers crunched on leaves, and she took in the autumn. She preferred summer. It reminded her of her childhood in Puerto Rico. But there was something about fall here.

Gwen told her that it reminded her of her new life in New Rome, but Reyna just shrugged it f and told her that she just liked the season.

Jason didn't take his time to enjoy the beauty of the basically-empty morning. He hurried past everything, keeping away from the sunlight with his Raybands, and he cringed with every crunch of the leaves below his converses. When he finally made it towards the dining hall, he found that he was surrounded by hangover kids as well.

Well, except for a little girl in a Princess outfit.

He had to take a double-take when he saw hot pink in the sea of kids wearing sunglasses and hoodies.

"Ella?"

The little girl smiled as she hurried to Jason, and he quickly got on his knees to look at her.

"Where's your mom, Ella?"

"She and Daddy are 'alking to wook at the 'eaves," Ella nodded, "LuLu was babysitting me. And she wanted to come see her 'oyfriend."

Jason looked up to see Lucille making out with her son of Apollo boyfriend, Ryan.

Jason let out a moan and shook his head at Lucille.

"I 'anted to show you my Halloween 'ostume," Ella spun around, "I was a Fairy 'rincess."

If she hadn't told Jason, he would have thought she just went as the color pink. Her hot pink tulle skirt was probably bigger than Ella, and the top was covered in pink sequins, turning her into a hot pink disco ball in the morning sun. She had a big crown on and hot pink fairy wings behind her.

"You look adorable," Jason smiled at her, taking off his sunglasses and letting his blue eyes brace the bring sun, "My beautiful fairy princess."

Ella smiled wide at the compliment, and she was about to wrap her arms around his neck and her legs around her waist in what Jason called the tackle hug, but then she remembered something.

"She 'obly alweady got bweakfast. I don't 'ant to 'orry her," Ella nodded as she began to lead Jason into the building.

"Who is _she_?" Jason asked worriedly.

Ella didn't answer as she hurried into the building, pulling Jason along.

"Ella?"

Jason froze, but Ella kept

"There's the little fairy princess," Reyna smiled as Ella ran towards her, leaving Jason behind.

His eyes widened as she put a bowl of her favorite marshmallow cereal in front of her and smiled from across the table.

Reyna was opening her mouth to warn Ella not to tell Jason because he would never let her live it down, but she was cut off.

"Good morning, Reyna," Jason smiled as he sat down beside Reyna at the table, smiling as he snatched a piece of bacon off her plate, "Bacon, yum."

She stared, waiting for impact.

"So, what's up with you two?" Jason smiled, leaning over the table to talk to Ella.

Reyna was frozen, unable to quickly say anything before Ella admitted everything.

"Reyna 'ame with 'e trick-or-tweating," Ella smiled, "She 'aw LuLu and brought me 'ere for bweakfast."

"Isn't that so sweet?" Jason smirked as he looked back to her, and her eyes widened when he slung his arm around her and pulled her closer.

"What the Pluto are you doing?" Reyna hissed in his ear, and he just kept smiling.

"This is called revenge, Reyna. This is why you shouldn't tease me for being _Jay-Jay_," Jason whispered back as he planted a big kiss on the side of her head, making everyone pull off their sunglasses and brace the bright lights for a double take.

Reyna couldn't decide if she was about to die herself or kill him.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you got soft," he nudged her before letting her go, and Ella was smiling at the two.

"I 'ought you said 'ou were just fwiends."

Reyna burned bright red.

"Well… uh, we are… Jason just…"

"I'm going to leave you to handle this," Jason whispered again and smiled at Ella, "I'm going to grab some breakfast. Want some bacon?"

* * *

_**This is turning more Jeyna than I had expected, but I still think I show that they are best friends. And Reyna's gone soft, eh?**_

_**I wanted to post something the night before The Mark of Athena. And, though I can't get home where my book is waiting at my doorstep until the fourth, a bookstore in Birmingham, where I am for the week, said that they would give me a sign for it tomorrow since they'll throw them out anyway.**_


	8. Thanksgiving

_**Sorry for any mistakes. Keyboard broke, and I had to write most of this with one of those stupid roll-up keyboards that suck.**_

* * *

_**Thanksgiving**_

* * *

As Thanksgiving approached, Reyna felt something tug at her heart.

It ached in her. It reminded her that she didn't have her sister around while she was leading the Amazons. Her parents weren't around, and she shouldered all of this by herself…

Yes, she had Jason, and, while he had come a long way from the serial dater party boy that everyone had known him as, he wasn't… well, he wasn't _there_ yet. He was strong, he was proud, and he was on his way. But he looked to her for guidance.

He… well, he was the _newbie_, no matter how much she defended him.

This was still her cross to bear, and she…

She wanted… help.

She wanted sleep. She wanted to crawl into her bed and relax. Reyna didn't want to wake up at five in the morning for bitter coffee and working until late in the night, when it was either get a few hours of sleep or have a life.

She often chose _sleep_…

As Thanksgiving came closer and closer, Reyna watched as everyone enjoyed their families.

It was like watching a cute little family movie during the epilogue when everything gets perfect.

There were cute little families. Grandparents taking their little grandkids for hot chocolate and playing at the playground. Older parents talking with their college-age children and hugging them and saying how much they missed him. And teenagers rolling their eyes at their embarrassing families as they came in from the camp.

As her favorite waiter, Samuel, would smile as he brought her another cup of hot chocolate, she would smile and then her black eyes would wander to the families sitting just out the window.

Something that she blamed on being a hormonal teenage girl underneath this warrior face hurt in her.

Moms chased after toddlers, putting them in a high chair and giving them spoonful after spoonful of gross looking baby food. Dads reminded their son to be nice when their annoying aunt came for Thanksgiving. And the parents rolled their eyes at their kids with smiles to each other.

Would she ever have that?

Or was she too strong for someone to ever work past it?

At risk of sounding like a daughter of Venus, she never told anyone about her fear of being alone. Of being like this forever. Of never having anyone to share the burden or even the happy moments, too.

"Well, I have Ella," she would smile to herself.

When it finally came time for Thanksgiving, her annual pain was beginning to subside.

She had bought a feast of five minute pizza, candy, soda, and every other unhealthy food she knew she shouldn't have.

But Jason was stuck sitting on his kitchen tile, staring at the fridge.

As they did every year, Reilly and Jordan invited him to their Thanksgiving. It was tempting.

Reilly rolling her eyes at her over-protective mother in law who had trouble realizing that her son was thirty-five, not five. Ella twirling around in her new cute little red tutu with a brown tee shirt with a tree on it, showing him what she learned in ballet. And Jordan kicking around the soccer ball with him.

During Christmas, he loved being over there.

He was a member of the family.

But there was something weird about Thanksgiving.

Maybe it was because of his few memories of his family…

His _blood_ family.

Whenever he thought about it, he shuddered.

Nothing seemed to dull the pain.

Not talking to Ella the morning when he went out to get that pumpkin coffee Reyna had suggested. Not working out all morning until he collapsed to the mat and had destroyed the punching bag. Not trying to sleep. Not candy. Not even the small amount of vodka he got from Brett, which just made him puke up the marshmallows he had been eating all day.

Finally, he reached desperation.

When he said _desperate_, he meant desperate.

Even disturb Reyna during her day of rest.

He knocked but got no answer.

_She must be sleeping,_ he told himself, but he didn't think so.

He found her front door unlocked, and he pushed it open to look for his best friend.

"Reyna?"

Nothing.

He closed the door quietly behind him and walked through the house, and he gasped.

On the tile of the kitchen, there she sat, just as he had earlier.

Her baggy New Rome university tee shirt hung off her like it was made for someone triple her size. On one foot, she had a purple knee sock with a big picture of Mickey Mouse at the top. On the other foot, she had brown sock with multi-colored leaves falling. Her hair was in a bun behind her head, and she was showing off a nose stud that she usually kept out of sight.

But that wasn't what he was staring at.

Her cheeks stained red. Her lips were getting dry. And her eyes were turning red.

And she was… _crying_.

Her chocolate brown eyes stared at him, her eyes wide.

"W-What are you doing here?" she quickly wiped away her tears, hiding her stained face in her tee shirt.

Jason Grace.

If his Adonis face wasn't already burned in her brain, it was now.

He was the first boy ever to see her cry…

"Um, I just… I knew you weren't doing anything… and…" he stuttered, unable to believe his eyes.

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do.

Pretend it didn't happen. Demand he leave. Or keep crying…

She couldn't decide.

So, instead, she just sat on the floor.

Jason's ocean blue eyes wandered to the floor, where she had been looking at as she sobbed, and his eyes widened.

On the floor, there was a photo of two girls. One of them reminded Jason of a cruise director with that perky smile and clipboard. She matched the beautiful Caribbean scenery behind her, as did the spent-my-summer-in-the-sun tan she had earned.

And then there was the girl beside her.

Her black hair seemed immune to the humidity. It looked like something you see in a shampoo commercial. She had it pulled her hair behind her ear to show a silver stud on the top of her ear. She dressed the same as the other girl but made it feel different. Less monochromatic. This girl couldn't be more than thirteen.

_Reyna,_ Jason told himself. He knew it was her. But he was shocked to think that the cruise director was Hylla, Queen of the Amazons.

Jason unwillingly felt he worst thing he could ever feel for Reyna.

_Pity_

He sat down on the tile across from her, and she still sat silent, staring at her perfect friend.

"So where is she now?" he motioned towards the picture on the floor.

Reyna hesitated.

_He's already seen me cry. Why act tough now?_ Reyna asked herself.

"China. Fixing some shipping issues," Reyna shrugged.

She hesitated but kept going anyway.

"We weren't in America in Circe's island, but then again, even if we had been, we wouldn't have celebrated. But Hylla and I were used to Thanksgiving since we were from Puerto Rico. So, we used to go to our private little place on the coast and eat candy corn until we had no room for anymore," Reyna smiled to herself, thinking about when things had been easier.

She was free to do whatever she wanted as long as it didn't involve boys.

The days of sleeping in and only having orders when visitors floated around were like a dream these days.

"You're from Puerto Rico?" Jason asked.

Reyna began the story of her life in Puerto Rico, how she and her older sister got to Circe's island, and she spared no details about the boy who took that life away. The rest of her story was stuff he knew.

He began to feel petty for his years of skirting by with his good looks.

While he had been doing everything to get to the quests to enjoy local stardom, this had been her life.

"So what do you have to keep you from giving thanks today?" Reyna asked, popping candy in her mouth as she slid the bowl over to Jason.

He had this sudden urge to tell her.

To tell her what kept him up at night, what killed him when he thought of LA.

He was only two, and he had no idea how he remembered it. But he did…

Thalia had been happy that morning. She dressed Jason up in a cute little outfit for Thanksgiving, ruffling his hair as she warned him about how their grandparents were. With a few hours to spare before their mother would return from her trip to Malibu with her latest suitor, Thalia played with Jason.

When his mother got home, she had a bottle in hand.

Thalia could tell that her mother was drunk even before she saw the almost empty bottle of cranberry vodka.

Her mother often had trouble remembering her name when she had too much to drink. Or maybe she didn't want to. Maybe, since she looked just like her father, she didn't want to remember Thalia. She didn't want to remember the god that left her with a baby…

When Thalia corrected her, their usual fight began. It was something baby Jason was used to. He didn't cry when their loud screams reached his small ears. He was over that. This was normal.

But then normal broke.

In her drunken anger, their mother threw the bottle. It hit Thalia's head with a thud, and she toppled to the marble floor. Jason began to cry, and their mother yelled for him to shut up. Though she remembered Jason and liked him most since he didn't look as much like his father, he still reminded her that she had fallen for it _twice._

The baby's cry made her leave, and no one was there that day. After what felt like an eternity, Thalia woke up, and she reached for Jason. She wrapped him up in her arms and whispered his favorite lullaby.

Jason had never told anyone this. He remembered a few things about his sister, but this was the only thing he remembered about his mother…

"What's wrong, Jason?" Reyna asked, her brown eyes really wanting to know.

Jason bit into a piece of candy before he began.

He told her everything. He told her about how his mother was an actress in LA back in the eighties. She was a beautiful party girl, and Zeus hadn't been able to resist. They had an affair, and Zues left when he heard from Hera she was pregnant. Nine months later, a little girl was born, Thalia. The woman was a terrible mother and a drunk.

Then Jupiter rolled around. She forgot his anger towards him and had another affair. Once again, when he found out she was pregnant, he left and didn't return again.

Things got worse for Thalia and the new baby, Jason. She got worse. Thalia decided to take all of her anger instead of Jason. She wanted to protect him, she wanted a better life for hm.

Jason felt a horrible feeling rise in him as he finished the backstory and began to tell Reyna what happened that Thanksgiving.

As Jason began to tell her about the only memory of his mother, regret flooded Reyna.

How could she think that he was just a party boy who didn't deserve her attention?

_Had it all been a ploy?_ She began to wonder, _Make everyone think he was just a Ladies Man you should steer away from so that no one would ever ask what happened. So that no one would ever bring up why he was here or what happened before then. _

As he finished, he wasn't sure what to expect.

Actually, he expected Reyna to remain silent. To sit on the tile, hiding her face in her tee shirt like she hadbefore. He almost wanted her to. He didn't want everything to change. He didn't want her pity.

But, instead of shying away from this moment, Reyna crawled on her knees toward him.

"Don't tell anyone I'm getting soft," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around him and did the weirdest thing Reyna had ever done.

She _hugged _him.

Jason was shocked to say the least.

Any other time, he would have tried to hug her. But it would have been too awkward, making him pull away and offer his friend to go pick up pizza or something.

Today was different though.

He wrapped her arms around her, too, and he accepted her warmth. Without realizing it, his blue eyes began to water, and a stray tear wet her neck, making her wrap her arms around him tighter. Maybe it was the thought that this would probably be their only hug, but they made the most of it.

They took in the others comfort. It was something they needed but could never get.

So it was natural that they took the moment for all it was worth.

Finally, as they were both relaxing a little too much into each other's arm, Reyna pulled away to where she was sitting on her knees in front of him.

"How does pizza and that movie you like, Eagle Eye?" she smiled weakly, avoiding the subject of the hug.

That was for them to remember and pretend that they didn't.

"Sounds great," Jason stood, letting out his hand to help Reyna. Usually, she would have rolled her brown eyes and stood on her own. But, today, she had already cried in front of him, told him her entire story, _and_ hugged him.

Accepting help up was nothing.

"By the way, what's up with the socks?" Jason nudged her,

* * *

_**Am I the only one who is disappointed that Rick made Reyna so desperate for love? **_

_**And I have news. I was an independent before who was leaning towards Jeyna. But I now can not stand Piper. I'm sorry but she just acts so..**_

_**Stupid sometimes (though everyone is, so I don't mind that much.1 But everyone keeps saying she's so smart!). Hypocritical (Swears that she would do anything for him but didn't want him to remember anything because he might remember someone else). And well… **_**annoying**_**. And the compliments about her great fighting skill are driving me insane (she usually stumbled away or messes up except for a few great moments).**_

_**I suddenly can't stand her and feel bad about that. I used to love her! now I just want her to shut up.**_

_**I also think that there is more with Reyna and Jason. I mean, he seemed to gain more of a character when he talks about her. But I'm probably jut prejudice.**_

_**Anyway guys, no spoilers! I am trying to pace myself since I've waited so long, and I would love it if no one gave me any spoilers!**_

_**Officially a Jeyna girl,**_

_**HAWTgeek**_


	9. The Christmas Party

_**The Christmas Party**_

* * *

"So what is this thing again?" Jason asked, throwing himself onto Reyna's bed.

Thanksgiving had come and gone, but they still remembered that day perfectly.

Something happened that day. They became… well, they honestly became one. They had always been a good team, but they were unstoppable now. They were the dynamic duo as many called them, and they were usually the first choices when it came to picking someone for a quest.

No one broke them apart anymore though.

_There was something about this relationship,_ they noted to one another.

Rome had seen Praetors of all shapes and sizes before.

They had watched them fall in love. They had watched them grow as friends, and they had watched them grow to hate each other.

But this was different. So very different.

This didn't have a name.

It was the best of them all.

They could be romantic and have sort-of-dates. On Friday nights, they could go out and vote on which restaurant (Jason usually wanted Mexican, and Reyna usually wanted Terakihi steak from the Sushi place). Or they could simply sit down with candy and watch a movie on the couch.

They could fight like cats and dogs and swear to never talk to each other again.

But they never kept to it. They were best friends.

That was just it.

They were best friends, not like siblings but friends. They understood each other, though sometimes they just wanted to kill one another. And being Praetors together furthered the relationship.

"I told you," Reyna told him as she pulled out the suit she had picked up from the dry cleaners for him. He didn't get much use out of it. It often stayed in the back of his closet since he was supposed to wear the purple toga most of the time, but it would get used tonight.

"I forgot," Jason moaned, burying his face in one of Reyna's tee shirts that she had thrown to the bed earlier while looking for his suit.

"It's a Christmas party."

"I thought you didn't do Christmas parties," Jason peaked at her, and she rolled her eyes, trying not to stare at his bare abs.

Most of his shirts were dirty, and he had thrown them into the laundry basket when Reyna had told him this morning that she would take his clothes to the cleaner since she would already be there. He hadn't expected a rigorous training to make him change or spilling coke on his only other shirt.

"I do when the governor is there. I _have_ to go, and now you do."

Jason clutched his stomach and let out a fake moan.

"I don't feel so good. I think I'll just stay in bed tonight. I don't want to get everyone sick."

Jason had the upbeat attitude to do most everything, and he was honestly fine with going tonight.

It was his Praetor duty, and a Christmas party was nothing compared to what he had coming into this thing.

But Jason just loved to tease her.

Reyna tried not to get annoyed like he wanted her to, but he knew her well enough to know everything that drove her up the wall. And he was very, _very_ good at it, too.

It was one of his many talents, and this was probably the only one that hadn't in some way saved their life. Even his annoying quirk where he tapped his leg had saved his life once or twice, though Reyna never admitted to that.

"You are going," she jabbed his chest.

"That hurt," he touched where his heart was and happened to be two centimeters away from where she jabbed.

Reyna rolled her eyes, and she was about to tell him to go home and get dressed. But he had already gotten off and gone towards her closet, staring at a green dress in the back.

"What is this, and why the Pluto haven't I seen you in it?" he held up a tight green dress.

It had been a birthday present from Gwen.

It fit her well, a little to well as she saw it. It went to her knees, and it had a sweetheart neckline with think straps. It came with a necklace with glass emeralds that you could swear was real, and Gwen had also put a pair of black platform pumps with green on the bottom.

"Because I can't breathe in it," Reyna tried to snap it back, but he held it up to her, imagining his best friend in the dress.

"Who needs to breathe?" he kept looking at the dress, and she rolled her eyes.

He raised his eyebrows.

If this was what she kept in her closet, what would she _wear_?

"What are you wearing?"

"I'm in front of our boss, Jason. I can't go slut up the place," Reyna crossed her arms.

"Oh gods, you're wearing the Christmas tree sweater and grey skirt, aren't you?" he crossed his arms.

"What's wrong with the sweater?" she asked as she took back the tight green dress.

"What's _right_ about the sweater?"

"Well what do you want me to wear?"

"That," he pointed to the dress.

"No."

Jason was about to keep going, but he raised his hands in surrender, knowing that begging like that would only piss her off.

"I'm going to get dressed," he picked up the suit, and he hesitated before going down the stairs, "Hey, when will the laundry be back?"

"Elaine just got divorced. And Mark proposed on Christmas Eve. She was ecstatic to have work to do. She said she'd drop it off by tomorrow morning."

Jason nodded thankfully and started back to his house next door.

They both went on with getting ready.

Jason took a shower and tried to scrub off the signature smell of the arena, a mixture of blood, sweat, and pride. He then went to the Roman Bath, where he relaxed. And he continued to get dressed.

Reyna was also doing the same. She felt renewed and refreshed as she came home, still smiling from the bath. Which is why she was so shocked when she saw a pissed-off Gwen with her hands on her hips standing in the middle of her living room.

"There you are."

"What are you doing here?" Reyna asked as she closed the door behind her.

"We only have two hours until the party."

Reyna stared at her.

Gwen was ready for the big party that Lewis Donald was throwing at the club. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with mistletoe stuck in it. Her lips were Christmas red, and her earrings were little jingle bells. Her mint green skirt fit her well, and she had on red tights. Reyna stared as she realized she was wearing her sweater.

Reyna felt sick as she realized what came next.

"Oh Pluto no," Reyna crossed her arms.

"Oh Pluto yes," Gwen smiled, "I don't care if you are just friends. For tonight at least, he is going to fall in love with you!"

Gwen pulled her up the stairs, and she began to work on her best friend.

Meanwhile, Jason was still relaxing.

He was lacing up his shoes and deciding against the tie Reyna wanted to wear while his best friend was basically being attached by Gwen.

Before now Reyna never knew how hard it was to look beautiful.

She was beautiful. But she never tried hard. She braided her hair instead of styling it. She dressed in a toga or tee shirts, and she was loyal to her lucky converse that had seen her through the first day of training to the night she was named Praetor.

By the time Gwen was curling Reyna's long hair and putting in extensions, Reyna wasn't sure she ever wanted to look really beautiful again.

Jason waited outside for Reyna, but he was just standing there. Gwen was just applying lip gloss, and Reyna wasn't coming out any time soon.

After a while, he left waiting at her door, and he started towards the area where the Christmas party was being held. New Rome was a circus tonight, as you could expect.

Little kids ran around and giggled about how excited they were. Some hurried to the store for last-minute eggnog and marshmallows. People ran around for last minute gifts and wrapping paper. And teenagers mingled as they got ready for the party.

Jason felt better that he was going to the generals party. It felt more… him.

No, it felt like the Jason he _wanted_ to be.

He had never really felt Roman until Reyna, and he knew he would never be like her. But he didn't really want to be either. He wanted to make her proud¸ and he honestly was. But not for what he thought.

She hadn't been able to stay as happy as he had. She grew cold, she grew hard. But he remained as nice and upbeat, though he had lost his partying ways. Jason was able to maintain optimism when everything around him was horrible.

He saw the worst of things but managed to see the bright side.

Reyna longed for that. She hadn't been able to get that for herself, and, without realizing it, pride swelled through her.

"Hey, Jason," one of his work friends, Bobby, smiled and waved at Jason, and he smiled as he started towards him. As they began to talk, the party began.

Waitresses in pretty green dresses and waiters in red suits refilled wine glasses and served finger food. A quartet played softly, and people mingled to one another. The leader of each legion was present with some of their other high-up members. Everyone scurried around in expensive outfits, and they talked mainly of work.

"So, have you seen Reyna?" Jason asked as he spotted the mayor of New Rome, and Bobby was in the middle of a shrug when his jaw dropped.

Jason looked back and gasped as well.

"Who is she?"

She was beautiful.

She had wavy black hair held out of her eyes with a red clip to show red studs. Her legs seemed as long as a spiders in her dark green heels, and she was able to walk in them despite how all of the girls in the room were thinking that they would break their neck at the first step. The tight red dress went a few inches above her knee, but she was able to walk. And the top was sheer red and long-sleeved, showing a tattoo on the side of her arm.

"Oh my gods, that's-!" Bobby couldn't even finish it because the girl was walking towards him.

Jason stared, and she hurried towards him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned on him to fix the strap on her shoes, and he just kept staring.

"These heels are killing me," she smiled apologetically, and she peaked over his shoulder, "Oh, hey, Bobby."

Bobby let out a weak wave, still staring.

"I thought you were wearing the sweater," Jason gave her another once-over to see if he was imagining this.

"Gwen wanted to wear it," Reyna shrugged, "Why? Do I look ridiculous?"

"Definitely _not_ ridiculous, Reyna. _Not_ ridiculous," Bobby told her, and she wasn't sure how to take that, whether it was Bobby teasing her or actually a compliment.

Bobby let out a mischievous grin as he nodded towards both of them and motioned to his brother, Edwin.

"I'm going to go talk to Ed, make sure he doesn't embarrass me in front of everyone."

Bobby hurried to his brother, and Reyna looked back to Jason.

"What's up with him?"

_You_, he wanted to say, but he couldn't get his words to function just yet.

He was too shocked.t

She looked…_amazing_.

For a minute there, he could have sworn that he was looking at one of the daughters of Venus who went weak in the knees when he walked past, only without the weak in the knees part. It wasn't like she wasn't pretty before, but now?

Now _Jason_ felt like the person who was supposed to go weak in the knees.

Reyna picked up a glass of Champaign from one of the waitresses, and she handed Jason the other.

"You're going to want to start drinking now, young Padawan."

He took her advice and took the glass, and they started the annual mingling with their bosses, assuring them that they had everything under control and for them not to decide to boot them out.

After ten conversations full of small talk and work and five glasses of Champaign, the two finally had finished pleasing the New Rome officials, and Reyna was congratulating Jason a job well done with that when Clara Wilson walked up to them.

She was second in command to Suzie, her older sister. She was only fourteen, but, if you looked at her, you would think she was much older. Out of the two Wilson girls, Clara was deemed by most as the prettiest.

While her sister was a blonde by the bottle, Clara had naturally strawberry blonde curls. She was petite but had the illusion of long legs. Her eyes were green like a clover, which is also the color she usually wore, and they always had a sweet little sparkle. Her lips were puffy but also as perfectly sculpted as if she had gotten them on a surgery table. Clara's nose was Roman, and she always wore a locket with a_ C_ on it.

She was the granddaughter of Venus, and she fit the stereotype of a gorgeous, sweet, and completely stupid while her elder sister was more cunning but not by much. They were both the same sweethearts, and, if it wasn't for Clara's stupidity, you might not know who you were talking to out of the two girls.

"Jason? I haven't seen you in forever!" she giggled, and Jason let out a weak wave.

Neither of them enjoyed Clara's company, but they could put up with it.

"Hey, Clara. I didn't know you were coming," Jason tried.

"Oh, Suzanne is at the big party, and she wanted me to stop in before going myself. Are you going, Jason?"

Clara was aware that her sister had locked her sights on Jason Grace. Everyone knew that they would make a perfect match, and things were finally coming together so that it could happen. Well, it _was_ coming together.

If only Suzie could get Jason's attention.

Jason shrugged.

"I haven't really thought about it," he shrugged, and Clara's eyes finally wandered over to Reyna.

For a moment, she thought that he had come with a date, and she instantly felt sorry for her older sister. But then her eyes fell to the tattoo, and she giggled.

"Reyna?" she smile thankfully, "You look _beautiful!_ I almost didn't recognize you!"

Reyna's eyes widened, and Jason bit back a laugh.

Clara didn't seem to understand what she had said, so she didn't try to explain that she didn't mean it like that.

Jason smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, mainly to keep Reyna from doing anything crazy. And Clara's green eyes widened in shock as her bright green eyes rested on Jason's arms.

"She does look great, doesn't she?" Jason looked at Reyna with loving eyes, making Reyna freeze with shock so that she couldn't get mad at Clara.

Jason was a genius. He knew Reyna, and he knew how to keep her from getting too mad.

"We're going to head out. I'll see you around, Clara," Jason smiled goodbye, and Clara nodded.

"Did she seriously just say that?" Reyna whispered as he steered her towards the door.

He picked up a glass of Champaign from a passing waiter and handed it to her, and she still had that shocked face.

"How do waffles and bacon sound?" Jason kept his arms around her as they went out the door, and she stopped to take off her painful heels.

"Lots and lots of syrup."

"And _the General_ is back."

"Shut up, _Captain Crunch._"

Jason burned bright red, and she smiled as she hooked her arms around his.

"Let's get out of here before we have more small talk."


	10. New Year's Eve

_**New Year's Eve**_

* * *

_Just got in from China. Maybe we could go out tonight. Hit San Fran. Make some memories that we'll be glad we forgot the next morning. I miss you, Baby Sister. And we both need some fun, especially you. Tell me the truth. Do you do anything other than work?_

_-Hylla_

Reyna looked up to her cell phone, where Octavian was still droning on about something of little importance, and Jason caught her eye.

Though no one else had, he had noticed when she brought out her cell phone and read something. Even though he could have killed Octavian for calling a meeting of the senate on New Year's Eve, he paid attention to him so that Reyna didn't have to.

Jason was still thinking back to his friends who all went on their annual camping trip.

Yes, this was a real camping trip. No partying. No drinking.

They had started the tradition when they were nine.

The five boys (Steven, Brett, Sam, Dex, and Jason) climbed into Brett's dad's car, and they set out for the woods. Brett's parents got divorced when he was two, and, because of that, he could honestly get just about anything he wanted, even a camping trip with a bunch of kids on New Year's Eve.

They did it every year now. Only, two years ago, they ditched Brett's dad, and Dex, who was the oldest of the group at eighteen now, would drive them.

He had been planning on going. His suitcase was still packed and standing by the door. Jason was about to climb into Dex's Jeep when Octavian called the senate with business that would keep him from the camping trip. About to kill the gangly blonde, he sent his friends on and went to the senate.

Jason smiled that she could keep talking to someone on her phone, and her thankful smile spread as she looked down to her cell phone to type an email back to her older sister.

_You know me, and you know the answer to that. No, I don't do anything other than work. Which is why I can't ditch tonight. Believe me, I really want to. But Octavian just called the senate together. Knowing me, I'll be watching TV with chocolate and soda. Go have fun though.. Te quiero, hermana mayor._

_-Reyna_

She pressed the button, and she was about to slide the cell phone under her thigh when it vibrated with another email. Glancing to see if anyone else was paying attention, which they weren't, she read through the message.

_Vive la vida mientras puedas._

_Do you remember that, Reyna? Live life while you can. You are not living life! Have fun tonight. Get drunk. Have a little too much fun. What about that Adonis boy I met? Jackson? Jason? Have some fun with him. Just do something._

_Love you, too._

_-Hylla_

"I'm sorry, Octavian. But you're making a big deal out of nothing," Jason smiled his winning smile, leaning back in his throne.

Octavian opened his mouth to go off, but Reyna cut him off.

"I agree with Jason."

Octavian was flustered, his cheeks turning red with anger, and the senate quickly dismissed.

As always, Jason and Reyna stayed last, and Jason had smirk as he looked at her.

"Are you flirting with someone, My Dear?"

Reyna rolled her eyes and held up her smart phone to show the contact of _Hylla_ in big letters.

"My older sister."

"Ooh," Jason snatched the cell phone out of her hands, "_That Adonis boy? Jackson? Jason_? She thinks I'm an Adonis."

"_Everyone_ thinks you're an Adonis," Reyna took her phone back as she stood, sliding out of the purple robes to her jeans and tee shirt underneath.

"So, it looks like we're in the same boat. TV and lazy clothes," Jason pulled off the purple sheets and pulled on a football team tee shirt.

Reyna pursed her lips and hesitated, thinking back to her past New Year's Eves.

No, her past years.

_Vive la vida mientras puedas._

Live life while you can.

Reyna _wasn't_ living a real life.

She was living a work life, and she knew she couldn't kick it. But, maybe just for tonight, she could.

"I know that face," Jason pointed to his best friend, "That is your _I-Have-a-Plan_ face. I like that face. What are you thinking?"

Reyna hesitated, still working it out in her mind.

"I don't know… But you'd like it. And Hylla would, too."

"So what? Can you give me an idea or…?"

Reyna waved him off, walking towards the bath house.

"Reyna," Jason hurried to keep up with her, "You're doing it again. When you don't answer me and just keep walking. Can you try thinking aloud every now and then?"

"I'm going to take bath," Reyna told him absently, and Jason would have kept following her if she hadn't entered the girl's changing room, where a girl coming out glared at him when he started walking towards the door.

"No, no, it's not like that. My friend just walked in, and I needed to talk to her," Jason tried, but the girl just shook her head at him and kept walking.

_Thank you, Reyna_, Jason mentally cursed at her.

He trudged home, and he got out his cell phone after a text from Dex came in about how much fun they were having.

Jason changed from cursing Reyna to cursing Octavian for making him miss the camping trip with the boys.

Reyna, on the other hand, kept only one thing in her mind.

_I'll show Hylla,_ Reyna told herself_, I can too live. I am going to have fun tonight if it breaks every bone in my body._

Reyna flipped through her clothes, trying to find the shortest dress she had. She finally settled for a pair of skin tight black jeans, a sequin tank top, and her platform heels. She curled her hair to ringlets, and she tried to remember everything Gwen did when she did her make-up last week.

As the clock struck ten, Reyna stared at herself in the mirror, and she hesitated.

She had a sudden urge to take a shower to get all of her make-up off, slide into her lazy sweatpants, and watch the ball drop on TV with a bowl of green apple Twizzlers.

"You are going to do this," Reyna locked eyes with her reflection, "You are_ not_ going to be lame this year."

The thought of having to tell Hylla that she had spent what was left of the year as she had spent the rest of the year, lying on her couch with Netflix and candy, brought back her fearlessness, and she held her head up high as she left her house.

Reyna thanked the gods that no one stopped and stared tonight. Most of them were too drunk, leaning onto friends. Or posting embarrassing pictures of friends on facebook. Or they were too pumped about their night ahead.

When she came to the club though, everyone noticed her this time.

She could feel their eyes, and she could hear their whispers. They wanted to know what she was doing here. Everyone did something different in their reaction, but Suzie didn't really react to it. Instead, she cursed under her breath.

_I've got to get to him before he sees, _Suzie told herself, and she weaved through the party to get to Jason, who was laughing with his friend, Sam.

She flipped her golden blonde hair and tapped on his shoulder.

He turned around, and even Jason had to marvel at her beauty.

She was petite with the illusion of long legs, but she wore giant high heels to distract from it. Her training had earned her the 4 on the tag of her mini dress, and she had a face that made you wonder if she had gone under the scalpel. Her lips were thick and perfectly sculpted, and her nose was roman without being too pronounced. Her cheekbones were high, and her eyes were clover-green.

When Suzie was only nine, she first noticed Jason.

Instantly, she knew they would be together.

Maybe they wouldn't get married and have the two children she dreamed of (a beautiful daughter, Celia, and a handsome son Jupiter). But they would date at some point. She just knew it.

She forgot about it for a while.

Dated other boys. Hung out with other people.

Now she was ready though.

But, now, it wasn't happening!

That made her want it even more, and she was going to get him.

"Hey, there you are. I haven't seen you in forever," she playfully pushed his shoulder, and he let out a small smile.

"Hey, Suzanne."

"Call me, Suzie. We've known each other _forever_," she kept smiling.

"Sorry. I keep forgetting," he rubbed his neck.

"You can make it up to me by dancing," she nudged Jason, and he smiled.

As she led him to the dance floor and away from Reyna, Gwen saw her best friend.

Gwen almost dropped her drink when she saw Reyna, and she pushed her way past a group of Apollo boys picking out their girl for tonight. Reyna smiled with relief when she saw Gwen, and she let herself relax a little more.

Gwen wrapped her arms around her best friend, and she laughed.

"What are you doing here?" Gwen gave her a once-over, "And where did you get those heels? Can I borrow them on Friday? I have a date."

"They're yours. You left them at my place."

"I will be taking those back, Missy. But I am taking you to get some hot clothes, too. No backing out, Reyna," Gwen smiled, and Reyna tried not to laugh.

"I'm going to need a drink."

Gwen hooked her arm onto Reyna's, and she expertly weaved through the crowd to get to the bar where she flashed a smile at the bartender for a drink. The bartender was supposed to be making only smoothies and Shirley Temples for the young party tonight, but he did it anyway.

"Hello, Gwen."

"Two please," Gwen flipped her hair, and he smirked.

"Appletini?"

"You got it," he went to making the drink.

On the other side of the party, the music was pounding. The floor was shaking. And everyone was dancing.

Though Jason didn't feel the same party high, he still knew how to be at a party, and he still knew how to dance. Suzie took notice of this, and it gave her some sort of hope that she would one day get that Party-Boy Jason she had been lusting after for years.

As the two came out of the packed dance floor, Suzie forgot about Reyna for a minute, and she leaned closer to Jason.

"Can you get me a drink?"

Jason nodded and started towards the bar.

He tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the binder focus on two certain girls.

He finally decided to push past everyone to get to the bartender.

"So what is this?"

"Just try it. Its good," Gwen nudged her as she got her Appletini, "You should try the chocolate ones that James here makes."

"Reyna?"

Reyna choked on her Appletini and almost broke her ankle spinning around to see him.

If she hadn't been in four inch heels, she might have hidden her face in her long hair and run out of the crowded club.

"Wow," Jason gave her a once-over still unable to believe it.

Reyna…

Reyna went out?

No, Reyna was _hot_ when she went out.

Jason wasn't sure how to handle this.

He stared at her.

Suddenly, the thought of Suzie drifted away, and he could only stare at Reyna.

Was this even Reyna?

She was out. She was wearing heels. And _make-up_.

If her brown eyes hadn't widened and gotten scared to death, he would have thought it just happened to be a girl who looked like Reyna.

As his blue eyes drifted to the drink in her hand, she started to get angry.

"I thought you said you were going to hang out at home!" Reyna would have crossed her arms if she wasn't still holding her drink.

"Me?' Jason laughed, "Me! You're kidding, right?"

"You knew I was coming!"

"You never told me!"

"It was pretty _obvious_," Reyna tried, and they would have kept fighting if Gwen hadn't doubled over, spilling her drink on to her dancing flats.

"You two are five years old, you know that?" Gwen ruffled Jason's hair, "Drink this, and get another. Have fun."

Gwen handed him her drink, but she stopped before completely walking off to the dance floor.

"Not too much, okay?" she quickly told them, and Reyna burned bright red even though she had heard this from her older sister not long before.

Gwen, happy that they were now too embarrassed to do anything even if they did get completely drunk, walked off to the rest of the party, and she tried not to laugh at Suzie sitting on the bench waiting for whoever her suitor she was trying to get with this time.

"Ignore her. She's crazy," Reyna tried.

"But she was right about the drink. Want one?"

"Scotch. I'm already out tonight. These girly drinks aren't helping me," Reyna put down her Appletini, and Jason nudged her.

"My Reyna drank an Appletini."

Reyna rolled her eyes and made a playful jab.

"_Scotch._ Now, Newbie."

"And she's back."

Jason bought her a drink, and they went on with the party.

Jason showed her the ropes but didn't go so fast that she would return back to the safety of her couch with comfy sweat pants, TVs, and the comfortable couch.

He found that she caught on fast but didn't enjoy it as much as he had anticipated.

He had always teased her that, after her first party, she would go all crazy party girl like he had.

But he found that she was stronger than him.

He wondered why.

If anything, he should be the strongest.

As son of Jupiter, he already had that advantage. He lead quests and almost lost his life. He had managed to go on after being basically an orphan from the time he was two years old. And he had gone on wondering what ever happened to the older sister who loved him so much.

But what had happened to Reyna?

He suddenly realized that he didn't know.

"Come on, I have an idea."

"But its almost midnight," Reyna tried, pointing at the countdown.

"Do you really want to stick around?" Jason raised his eyebrows, and she looked around.

Reyna took off her shoes and nodded.

Jason waited until everyone was staring at Suzie who was so pissed that Jason had ditched her that she was with his best friend, Brett.

Jason hurried through the town, and Reyna followed after him.

"What's the hurry?" Reyna asked, the scotch coming back to haunt her as her head began to get woozy.

"You'll love this, okay?"

"You're freaking me out, Jason," Reyna tried to keep up without puking her guts on one of the porches of the Roman citizens.

Jason had to bite his tongue not to tease her that he was usually the one trailing while she was powering through, but he wasn't _that_ stupid despite how Reyna sometimes made him feel.

He didn't mean to, he knew that.

But her greatest quality was also her fatal flaw.

She was Praetor Reyna. It wasn't just a job. It was her life.

Jason had always wanted to be like Reyna.

_Everyone_ in the Roman Camp did, even if they lied about it.

They envied just how Roman she was. They cursed getting American-Soft, and they wanted to be as powerful and strong as Reyna was. They wanted to be able to think of the big picture instead of crying for the lives lost in the battle.

But then Jason got to know her, and he suddenly prayed to not share her fate.

He didn't want to have to stand there with a straight face and send people he knew to their death to keep everyone alive. He didn't want to have to lie and save the meltdowns until the door was safely locked behind him. And he didn't want to spend every thanksgiving sitting on the kitchen tile wearing old tee shirts and crying with photos of what he left behind to get here.

"Jason, where are we going? We're out of the city-" Reyna stopped when she came to the top of the hill, and her eyes widened.

Jason smiled proudly, and she did the weirdest thing Reyna had _ever_ done, including sobbing and telling him the story of her life in a pair of Mickey Mouse socks.

She planted a big kiss on his cheek and smiled wide.

"I love you right now."

"And we don't have to tell your sister. Say we got so drunk that we don't remember a thing after eleven o'clock."

Reyna kept smiling as they continued up the hill.

Two identical roman houses sat beside each other, with beautiful arches and ample relaxing space. They were separated by a small garden with a tree that rumors said had been planted by two Praetors in love. The story was sweet and adorable, but Reyna barely remembered it.

Jason did though.

It was Ella's favorite bedtime story, and he kind of liked it, too, even though he would _never_ tell anyone that.

Jason gave Reyna a boost to get up to the ledge where she kept the spare key since Gwen had accidentally picked up Reyna's purse and left her with Gwen's. She fumbled to get the key in the lock, and she cursed the Scotch.

When the door finally opened, she threw the shoes she borrowed from Gwen to the table where Gwen could get them later.

As she headed up the stairs for her comfortable pajamas and to get all the make-up off her face, Jason reclined onto the couch and surfed through the channels to see Ryan Seacrest talking about the celebration in New York City tonight.

New York City.

Jason was a West Coast boy.

It's something you have or you don't.

He had never lived anywhere but California, and he couldn't imagine being any other place. Maybe the state _was_ broke, and maybe Hollywood got too much attention, especially that action star (Tristan McMann? McLean?). But there was nothing like California.

But he had always been interested in New York City.

He wasn't exactly sure why.

"I have candy."

Jason was brought out of the trance when Reyna sat down on the couch, putting out the bowl of Twizzlers and assorted stuff left over from Halloween.

"Have you ever thought of the East Coast?" Jason asked, the question still bugging him. Reyna, who was now sprawled on the couch beside him, eating candy and letting the Scotch effects wear off.

"The East Coast?"

"Yeah, New York. D.C. And the south," Jason flashed a smile, and looked back as some pop star took the stage on TV.

Reyna thanked the gods he didn't see her recoil and her eyes widen.

She couldn't take away that innocence.

He didn't know about the Civil War, not the truth at least.

He believed the whole "Abraham Lincoln had this war for slavery" thing that everyone heard and that the evil Greeks started this thing because they were still angry Rome had conquered them once again.

She couldn't tell him that it was a Helen/Paris situation.

That a son of Apollo (the Roman) Charleston millionaire stole the beautiful daughter of Aphrodite, Elaina. That the son of Zeus, a powerful man in the White House on his way to becoming President someday, was angered by the betrayal of his wife. And forced the hand for a war, even convincing the President to keep it going.

_It'll never come up,_ Reyna reminded herself, and she forced herself to laugh along with Jason at the pop star singing her big one-hit-wonder.

"Champaign?"

"Whiskey. Top shelf," Reyna shrugged, and he stared, "I keep it for pain relief if I get hurt."

"Sure," he walked to the kitchen, grabbing the bottle and two glasses and hurrying back for midnight.

Four blinked on the countdown as Jason hurriedly poured the shot glasses and handed one to Reyna.

"Three," Jason smiled.

"Two."

"One."

The ball fell, and the people went insane.

You could hear New Rome celebrating almost as loudly as you could hear Times Square on the screen.

But, in this particular house, the new year ended with a clink of the class and the quick drink of the whiskey.

"So what was your year like?" Reyna asked, reclining back on the couch after pouring himself another glass.

Jason explained his year, stopping for a drink every now and then.

And, when his tale was finished, Reyna began hers.

At the end, they talked together about their time together. They laughed mostly, but that might have been all of the whiskey. By the time they had run out of their year to talk about, the bottle was gone, and so was their energy.

Reyna rested her head on his shoulder, and Jason tiredly asked her a question.

"Are you going to kick me in the knee again when I wake up?"

"Go home," Reyna told him, her voice full of sleep. But she didn't move off his shoulder, and he made no effort to go home.

"Just don't beat me up too badly in the morning, okay?"

As Reyna drifted into sleep, she said something, but it just came out muffled. But he took it as an okay, and he fell asleep on the couch.

_A great start to a new year, _Jason thought before completely falling asleep, _I didn't even kiss anyone at midnight._

But he couldn't think of spending his New Year Eve any other way.

Even with the banging hangover that would be greeting him into the new year or the backache from sleeping on the couch, he didn't regret anything.

As he began to drift into complete sleep, he made a promise to himself.

_Every new year, I'll remember this. Even if she's not with me. I'll remember this._

_**I finally updated.**_

_**I'm sorry it took so long, but I hope the long chapter makes up for it.**_


	11. Hot Chocolate Turned Sour

_**Hot Chocolate Turned Sour**_

November to January had passed in a blur, but January felt like it would never end for the two Praetors. Work was horrible for the first two weeks but seemed to evaporate soon after at least for a while.

Reyna called it their New Year resolution. They wanted to try to solve their own problems.

It happened every year from what Reyna told Jason. Everyone tried to do things on their own, but it only lasted about a month before things went up in smokes and they ran to their Praetors for help. If they were lucky, they would make it past Valentine's Day.

Jason and Reyna weren't exactly sure what to do with this new free time.

Gwen held to her promise that she would take her shopping, and there was a new part of Reyna's closet to devoted to cute but not frilly shirts and perfectly fitting skinny jeans. But Reyna hadn't touched any of it really. Instead, she was wearing the same old sweaters over her usual training clothes.

And that was where it began.

Gwen and Reyna went out to the human world for the weekend, and Jason promised to keep an eye on New Rome and the camp. There was nothing much to do, so he spent a lot of times with his friends. And, that shining Sunday morning, Jason trudged through New Rome to pick up hot chocolate and surprise his best friend when she got back.

But it was all forgotten when Suzie tapped on his shoulder and started talking to him.

Usually, he would have had some small talk before excusing himself, but there was something different this time. He found himself actually having a conversation, and he forgot about the two hot chocolates he had been just about to order

Early morning into late morning, and late morning turned into afternoon.

But they were still sitting there, three empty mugs of warm hot chocolate.

It had taken Suzie's hot-pink iPhone ringing to snap them out of it, but, before she excused herself to meet the girls for shopping, she slid him a little pink piece of paper with scribbled numbers and her name at the top of the paper.

And he suddenly remembered Reyna.

He slid the paper in his pocket and ordered two hot chocolates, and the paper felt heavy in his pocket as he hurriedly made his way up to _Praetor Hill_. He just couldn't stop thinking about it, and, when he and Reyna spent the next hour talking and drinking their hot chocolates while watching TV, he kept putting his hands in his pocket and feeling the same piece of paper.

Finally, after he kept thinking about it, he called the number.

He hadn't told Reyna about his plans on Friday night with Suzie because he just didn't know how.

Reyna could tell something was up with her best friend, but she decided to let him keep his secret for now anyways.

She let him keep it for an entire week before it came out.

Jason was nervous that Friday morning, dying from keeping a secret this long from Reyna. He had never kept a secret from her for more than a week, except for Thalia. He wasn't even sure why he was keeping a secret.

He liked Suzie. So what?

It wasn't a _crime._

But he just couldn't get the words off his lips.

Especially not this morning when she was so calm and in such a great mood. It was the first time she had gotten sleep in a long time, and she looked and felt refreshed. She felt like she could run a marathon or maybe even take our some anger on Octavia in the arena, just maybe "accidentally" break his nose.

"Two hot chocolates for our Praetors," Samuel happily dropped off two of the sweet drinks, "And a chocolate chip muffin for Reyna. On the house. I haven't seen you with this much sleep since you were thirteen."

Samuel used to be Reyna's tutor.

He was now in college and just celebrated his twentieth birthday. He finished his service two years ago and was now enrolled in college under as a criminal justice major. He used to teach Reyna about the art of war though, and he had always seen her as the intimidating thirteen year old who took to what he taught her easier than he had seen anyone do.

"Thanks, Samuel," Reyna smiled her thanks, and she pinched off a piece of her muffin as he walked away to the other customers.

Jason took a sip of his hot chocolate, eagerly accepting the warmth compared to the cold January day, and Reyna pretended not to notice his hands were shaking.

_What's up with him?_

"So, there's a new horror movie at the theater. It looks pretty tame, but I'm thinking about going. You in?" Reyna asked, trying to play it cool and not blurt out that she knew he was hiding something.

Jason finally couldn't handle it anymore.

That itch was no longer an itch but made his hands shake. Biting his lower lip now resulted in the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. And he could no longer hold it back from his best friend.

"I am doing something tonight," he nervously tapped on the table, keeping his eyes anywhere away from her obsidian black eyes.

"Really?" Reyna raised her eyebrows and gave him that _look_.

It was her _Praetor Reyna_ look. It could make the bravest of heroes cower in fear, even and _especially_ Jason.

He knew it was just intimidation, he really did. But it still made his skin crawl, his shoulders slump, and his hands shake. It made him look like he was getting off a hangover, so no one really took a lot of notice of his reaction at the table.

Jason's blue eyes averted from hers and brushed through his golden hair.

"Another movie."

"The action about Rome with Tristan McLean? I thought you said you didn't want to see that because of how off-base it would be-" Reyna was cut off by Jason.

"No, another movie," he winced.

Reyna tried to work together what other movies he would see were in town but there was only _Waking Up_, which he was _so_ not seeing. It was about a woman who hit her head in her house and lost her memory, finding out she was pregnant in the hospital. With the help of a friend (her super good-looking therapist, who can't see where that's going?), she goes on a search to find her life and the baby's father.

Jason watched Reyna work it together, waiting for the impact.

"_Waking Up_?" she asked though she knew the answer.

He nodded, and a bitter taste covered her tongue.

Her black eyes wandered back to the group of Venus girls, who were no longer smiling that flirty smile that spread on their lips every time they saw Jason, and her jaw tightened, which he noticed.

"Suzie, huh?"

A lump formed in his throat, though he couldn't figure out why.

But he decided to speak anyway.

"When you went shopping, we ran into each other here. And we talked for a while. A long while actually. Then she, uh, gave me her number. And we talked for a while again. And, you know, she said she wanted to see _Waking Up_. And I said I would come…" Jason tried awkwardly.

Reyna took a sip of her hot chocolate, but the sugary sweet drink turned sour and her muffin felt like dust in her mouth.

She tried to smile, but something in her was still pissed off and not just for the reason she thought.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she tried to seem upset like a friend, but there was something else.

A throbbing pain in her stomach that made her feel hollow and lifeless. It forced a sudden hatred for Suzie. And she hated it.

"I don't know. I just felt weird, I guess," Jason tried to look into her eyes, but now she was looking away, "Are you alright with this?"

"_Alright?"_ she looked back to him.

He nodded, holding his breath for her reaction.

She forced herself to have her typical smirk.

"What does it matter?" she tried, "I mean, _you're_ dating her, not me."

"It's not _dating_. It's _a date_."

She took another sip of her hot chocolate, which again felt like muck in her mouth, but it felt better than talking.

"Well, I was trying to tell you that it is your life. It's not my life to live," Reyna told him, doing her best to make him believe it.

And, even worse, _he_ did.

He relaxed and took another peaceful sip of his hot chocolate, feeling like a weight had just been taken off his shoulders. He began to talk like nothing was wrong, and now Reyna was the one with the problem. But he didn't notice her like she had noticed him.

Her hands were just as jittery. She was biting her tongue, and she was just as distant.

Maybe he noticed or maybe he didn't.

But his mouth stayed closed.

"Hey, I've gotta go. I'm going to finish up some paperwork," she stood up abruptly, and he nodded.

If it had been _anyone else_, he would have noticed.

But it was Reyna, and this was normal for Reyna.

"See you tomorrow. Maybe a horror movie then?" Jason smiled like it was conciliation for all of this.

Honestly, Reyna wasn't even sure if she would be able to get out bed the next morning.

"Yeah, maybe," she pushed her hair behind her ear, and she tried to scurry out.

But Samuel saw her face and let out a small apologetic smile.

"On the house, Shorty," he whispered, slipping her a cup of hot chocolate.

"Thanks," Reyna took the drink and she started towards her house.

Thoughts swarmed around her.

Suzie.

The new-found hatred for the beautiful girl.

Jason.

And whatever… _this_ was.

Through her desperate logic, she thought that maybe that hallow feeling might be soothed by getting something in her stomach.

She took a sip of her drink, she realized something.

Her entire life, hot chocolate just seemed to fix things.

Sometimes, it was a permanent fix.

And, for others, it was just a short fix that gave her enough time to use logic to fix it the rest of the time.

For the first time since she was just a little kid, hot chocolate didn't fix it.

Instead, it just left a sour taste in her mouth.


	12. Reyna's Skinny Jeans

_**Reyna's Skinny Jeans**_

* * *

Reyna's skinny jeans stayed hidden away in the back of her closet, never worn.

Whether she was born with it or had earned it through hard work, Reyna's body was more amazing than she would like to admit. It wasn't too muscled like some of the Mar's daughters. It wasn't too dainty like the daughters of Venus.

Yes, her body had undergone sleep deprivation, weeks where she was too busy to eat, and scars to relive her battles over and over again. But, despite all of that, she still looked pretty good.

Not that anyone knew.

She kept herself wrapped up in her Praetor uniform or jeans and comfortable but ill-fitting shirts.

But, as she stood there that morning, things felt different.

Instead of reaching for her trusty army green tee shirt that fit her well and cargo pants, she suddenly found herself staring at the pair of dark wash skinny jeans in the back of the closet. She thought back to the way she had looked in those jeans, and she stared at them a little longer.

Reyna reprimanded herself for being such a daughter of Venus, but she reached for the jeans anyway.

As she zipped up the tight jeans and weeded through her shirts in her large closet, she felt herself running over Jason's words from the night before.

"Actually, I can't. I need to get to town, but maybe we could watch that tomorrow?" Jason had told her as they finished with work, and she nodded. She tried to believe him, but he had first said that six tomorrows ago and had said it every day since. Her mind stayed glued to what he needed to get to in town…

Suzie.

Of all people, why did it have to be _Suzie?_

Reyna wasn't happy about him dating, though she couldn't figure out why, but she certainly wasn't happy about it being _Suzie._

For years, everyone had known that they would be together. Whether it was forever or just a fling, they would be together in some way. It was just natural. They were that couple you see in the magazines. They're gorgeous, they're sweet, and they're happy.

Yes, Suzie was conniving, and, yes, Jason was a warrior.

But they were still perfect for each other.

But things seemed to change when he became Praetor.

Suddenly, he forgot about the girl Suzie he had vaguely known. In fact, he wasn't a big fan of her now that he worked with her, and it had never even crossed his mind to _date_ her. Well, it _hadn't_ crossed his mind until Reyna went away for the weekend.

Reyna cursed at herself for doing that.

How could she have known?

How could she have known Jason would want to surprise her with hot chocolate? How would she know Suzie would be there? How could she have known that they would start talking? And how would she have known that she would give him her number and that he would call?

And how could she ever have known how all of this would make her feel?

Reyna wasn't sure why she felt this way, she just knew that she didn't want to.

She had tried every excuse to make a logical explanation for all of this, but none of it had worked. It always trailed back to one thing.

_Reyna liked him…_

But she didn't!

Or, at least, she thought she didn't.

She wasn't sure anymore…

This wasn't anything she had dealt with before. Usually, any problem, no matter how horrible, could be solved by throwing herself into her work or training, but it just didn't work. Not even because Jason was with her through every aspect of work and training, but work almost became impossible.

And that killed Reyna most.

She couldn't think straight enough to plan battles or anything for that matter, and it was making her frustration grow.

Reyna felt like she might throw something as she pulled on a shirt, and she picked up her bag for the morning as she began the walk to the dining hall.

The camp was never silent, and the morning _definitely _wasn't. But, this morning, it the cold air felt bitter, and she felt the absence of his voice in the chatter. Those adorable couples being lovey-dovey were more annoying than usual, and Reyna walked so fast she was almost running.

As she got into the mess hall, she suddenly wondered why on earth she had _rushed_ here.

Jason and Suzie were relaxing on one of the couches in the middle of the room, everyone staring as they smiled together.

Reyna's frustration turned to annoyance, and she rolled her eyes as she got her food.

"Really, _natural grown_ food are the best," Suzie told the rest of the group at their table, taking a bite of her organic berry salad, "These strawberries are grown by some little company in New York. It is _sooo_ adorable."

Jason tried his hardest not to roll his eyes, and he was biting into a piece of toast when Bobby started choking on his orange juice.

"Are you okay-?"

Then he saw her, too.

His jaw dropped, and Suzie's eyes widened while her jaw tightened. Gwen almost clapped.

"Is he alright?" Reyna asked as Bobby stared at her, making sure she sat farthest away from him.

Jason was too shocked to respond.

Reyna was pretty in that _Intimidating-and-Unapproachable_ way. He had seen her when she was at her lowest, her face red with crying and wearing knee socks with tee shirts four sizes too big for her. He had seen her at her best, wearing that tight red dress at Christmas with a pair of break-your-neck heels. And now here she was…

No forcing her to put on make-up. No guilt trips to get her to into those tight jeans, and no struggles of her stubbornness wanting to hold strong.

It was like the Twilight Zone.

Jason couldn't decide if he was more shocked that she was wearing make-up or if that she wasn't hiding it by pulling on a hoodie.

The only thing he could decide on was that she looked amazing…

Suzie almost turned the shade of her organic strawberries out of anger.

Today was supposed to be her day. She had just gotten her highlights touched up to be perfect honey blonde, and she had just gotten her hair professionally curled. This was the first time she wore her brand new ted jeans, and her shoes had cost her the rest of this month's spending money.

And people were staring at Reyna!

_You can distract my boyfriend, and you can eat bacon,_ Suzie narrowed her eyes at Reyna,_ But you will not steal my attention._

"What are you eating?" Suzie's eyes narrowed in on the pile of bacon on Reyna's plate, "Is that animal _fat_?"

"_Pig_ animal fat, actually," Reyna smirked as she bit into a slice of bacon, and Suzie crinkled her nose.

"That is _disgusting._"

"And that isn't disgusting," Reyna nodded sarcastically to a wheat germ smoothie.

Gwen stifled a smile and tried to distract them.

"Where did you get that coat? I love it."

Suzie happily flipped her hair, and she began to tell her about the store she found in San Francisco. Gwen did everything not to yawn or fall asleep, and Reyna took a long sip of apple juice as she looked, expecting to see Jason enthralled.

Instead, he let out a shrug and raised his eyebrows, silently warning her not to be mean to his girlfriend.

She tried, and, to get through the rest of breakfast, she just stopped speaking for a while and focused on eating the _"pig animal fat."_

When she had finished her plate and had listened to three shopping stories from Suzie, Reyna was relieved to finally be able to leave.

"I have to get to work," Reyna stood, and Gwen was quick to stand up with her. Bobby would have joined, but he felt so bad for his friend that he couldn't leave.

Gwen and Reyna made their way through the mess hall, and Suzie was opening her mouth again when her cell phone buzzed.

She looked down to her hot pink i-phone, and her green eyes scanned through the message from her sister, the morning update on the gossip between the descendants of Venus. Suzie apologetically smiled at her boyfriend.

"I have to go, Baby," Suzie gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving a pink imprint from her lipstick, and she told Bobby goodbye.

"Bye, Suz."

As she left, Bobby let out a sigh of relief.

"Gods, does she _ever_ shut up?"

"She's not that bad," Jason rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his coffee.

"She asked if Reyna was eating _animal fat_!"

"So she's a little health conscious."

"Health _obsessed_."

"Shut up, Bobby."

Bobby put his hands up in surrender, and he leaned back in his chair, pursing his lips as he looked to the door.

"So… Reyna."

"What about Reyna?" Jason carefully watched his best friend, worried what would come out next.

"Reyna looked pretty hot," Bobby smiled, and Jason rolled his eyes.

Bobby leaned into the table.

"_And_ she doesn't insult bacon. I vote that you ditch the blond and date Reyna."

Jason rolled his eyes.

He had been hearing this from him since Christmas.

"Why don't _you _date her, Bobby?"

"Because I'm not the one she got dressed up for."

Jason stared, not understanding what he meant.

"You and I both know Reyna, you more than me. And we know that Gwen had been trying to get her to wear those jeans and look like that for weeks, and you think it is a coincidence that the day we are having breakfast is the day she does it."

Bobby picked up his backpack and grabbed a piece of toast from Jason's plate.

"See you in training."


	13. A Friendship Worth the Price

**A Friendship Worth the Price**

* * *

Anger burned inside of Reyna, and it was building up in her chest, threatening to explode in a dramatic and violent way.

Reyna had been angry before. _Many _times before, but it had never been solely on one person. It had been on groups, on ideas, on enemies. It was part of her job to channel that anger from other people into fighting for the good of her people. But, tonight, it was all around one boy, Jason Grace. And this fight wouldn't be good at all…

It was hard to think that, just a few days ago, nothing had been wrong. No, there had been something wrong, but Reyna had been able to keep it all to herself. And Jason was able to pretend that he couldn't tell that there was a problem. Everything was fine…

Or fine enough. It wasn't the same. They couldn't be so comfortable around each other. They didn't sit so close anymore, and they didn't show up at the other's door in the early hours of the morning anymore. They didn't sit around talking about anything and everything. And their minds seemed to be separated instead of one like before.

They could still sit together though at their meals and during work. They still occasionally fell asleep at the other's house when work ran late, though it was seldom because Suzie did not approve. They still spoke even if their conversations were limited. And they could still work with each other.

But they couldn't keep up the charade, no matter how much they wanted to.

It reached a point where Reyna could no longer sit and watch Suzie and Jason and their non-stop PDA, which lead her to sitting with Gwen at a table farthest from them with her back to them. She couldn't listen to him talk about her, and she found herself cutting him off and changing the subject at every chance, which eventually lead to unbearable silence that got longer and longer.

And Jason couldn't pretend not to notice how she distinctly made an effort to sit away from him. He couldn't pretend that they were the same, and he just kept trying to break the silence with _anything_, even fighting if it meant the silence was gone.

Their occasional snide comments became disagreements, and their disagreements became fights here and there. And there fights here and there never got resolved and got built up inside of them. And what was building up inside of them lead them to this.

As Jason threw out another insult that hit her hard, Reyna's hands wrapped around a rock paperweight, closing her hand tightly around it to feel the jagged edges to distract her from her anger.

_Don't let me blow up,_ she prayed, _Don't let me blow up._

She said something back, but he was already prepared, ready to inflinct the pain that hurt her the most.

Reyna was strong. She could move on from any injury, any cut or bruise would fade. Pain would dull, and she would move on to the next fight and the next problem, hiding the next scar. Physical pain didn't last, especially not with Reyna.

But emotional pain…

That stayed with Reyna, and she desperately wished it didn't.

"Reyna, you have no one! You push everyone away! And I try to be there for you, and this is what I get! You push me away! And that's why you're yelling at me!" Jason's anger was getting the better of him, too.

This wasn't like him. This wasn't like either of them.

They were slow and careful, making sure they didn't do anything stupid. They may get angry, but it would be against an enemy that fueled them to work harder for a cause. They never let it out in an outpour of emotions, yelling, and animosity.

But all of the rules seemed to be nonexistent as they screamed at each other.

"You are yelling at me because I found someone!" Jason couldn't stop, though he knew he should, "That's why you're so angry! I found someone I can let close, and you are alone. Completely alone! And you will stay that way because that it just what you do!"

He regretted it as soon as he said it, and her jaw dropped, pain flooding her body.

Reyna could not believe Jason just said that to her. They were alike, they were two peas in a pod. They understood each other better than anyone else.

But, no, not anymore. Not now.

He was someone else, and she _hated_ this someone else.

She didn't even realize that she was bringing up the paperweight, and he was so horrified that he didn't notice either. They were both so distracted in their own worlds and their own injured pride. Jason's guilt was smothering him, and Reyna's pain attacked her wave after wave as she thought about it more and more.

But she was raising the paperweight.

And it just happened…

Suddenly, she saw the paperweight flying at his head, and they were both paralyzed with shock.

_Did I-?_ Reyna gasped, and she realized she did.

She… she threw it.

The paperweight hit Jason's head with a thud, and he let out the worst sound Reyna had ever heard.

It killed him to hear his sounds of pain, and she wanted to run to him to survey the damage and comfort him.

She couldn't move though, she just stood there…

As the rock fell down to the floor from his head, Jason touched his cheek, and his fingers felt the cool red liquid pouring down, making the pain even worse.

He wanted to hiss. To get angry, to throw something back.

None of that happened though.

He just stared into Reyna's eyes, and she had never seen anything that hurt as much as the look in his beautiful blue eyes.

They were full of such betrayal, such pain. Such disappointment and shock.

It was all for Reyna, the one he had once worshipped. Jason thought she was basically a goddess herself, and she would have believed it in a heartbeat to find out that she was. In his eyes, she walked on water. She was the leader, the person he wanted to one day be. Reyna was the perfect Roman.

Over the time they spent together, he saw who Reyna was underneath the purple gown, the armor, and the strong fascade. He saw things he didn't like, such as how her first reaction was to push people away. He found things that annoyed him like the mandatory early mornings to squeeze in extra work. But he especially found things he liked about her, things no one else knew.

Reyna knew all of this.

And she loved it.

She didn't tell anyone that, _especially_ not him. It was her secret that she kept close.

Her sister _had_ to know her so intimately. They shared secrets, they held similar jobs and similar lives. It was natural that they would know each other the best.

But Jason didn't have to know her, he still didn't know much about her life before Camp Jupiter, and he didn't know that much about her time _in_ it. Their lives were entwined with similarities, but they were different. He tried to know though, he tried to get to know Reyna. Jason wanted to know what her childhood was like and what brought her here. He wanted to know Reyna now, too, not just her past. Not only that, he did his best to know one day, to be her friend.

If it had been anyone else, they would haven't been able to rise again from the whips of her tongue and actions. They would have given up on her long ago, but Jason didn't.

Reyna thought that the most amiable about him. She didn't think he was amazing because he was a good Roman. A good soldier or a good leader. She liked him because of who he was, sometimes being the only reminder that this wasn't just about war, it was about the people they were protecting.

Secretly, Reyna tried to live up to those dreams of what Jason had pictured Reyna like. While she didn't always do it and forgot it more and more as they got closer to each other, she still didn't really want to disappoint him.

And she just had.

The pain was nothing really, a drop in the bucket for the two of them.

But this wasn't about the blood on his face or the cut or the paperweight or even the fight.

It was that _Reyna threw it_. And she meant it…

They had gotten so far from the beginning it was too much to grasp. It was maddening to think that, just a few months ago, they had just been starting off together and were trying to get a read on the other. It was crazy to think back to when they were just becoming friends and Reyna was the only girl in his life. It almost hurt to think of how close they had been, like one mind joined together. And it ached inside of them to think of how it suddenly disappeared when a blonde girl with a pretty smile handed Jason her number…

Reyna opened her mouth to apologize, but she still couldn't believe that she had _really_ done it. So the words died on her tongue, and silence took their place. She felt like crying, but it was too shameful to even cry about it. It hurt, but she couldn't stop looking in his eyes.

"Jason, I am…" she wasn't even sure if she choked out the last part or if they got lost before it was possible.

When Reyna knew her words had failed her and Jason was so hurt he didn't know what to do, Reyna pulled out the best plan she had.

She ran.

She ran out the door, unable to breathe. She wanted to run as far as she could, to another place. Maybe even to another country if she could manage it.

But Reyna's shock was too powerful though, she could barely make it through her front door before she collapsed to the ground and began to shake as guilt built up inside her.

As Jason cleaned the wound and put on a bandage, he just kept staring at himself in the mirror. He couldn't stop thinking about Reyna, about how their relationship had changed so easily and so dramatically.

For the first time since they began to grow apart, Jason finally saw what this was. He saw the distance between the two of them, what it was doing. What it had _done_.

"And for what?" Jason stared at himself, and he walked back to his bedroom, still lost in his own thoughts. But the sight of his dresser woke him back up.

On the dresser, there were pictures of his accomplishments, of his life, and of his friends. In the very center, there was a newer picture that was demanded to be displayed by the woman in the picture with him. It was him and Suzie, smiling together in the city.

While he usually walked past it and never noticed it until Suzie would come by and say how sweet it was that he kept it, Jason stopped and looked at it for a long time.

He was giving up everything for Suzie. He was giving up Reyna, his best friend and co-worker. He was giving up the best relationship he had ever had, the one that worked like clockwork. And it was for a girl who he sometimes couldn't stand. A pretty girl who could be loving and sweet but could also be selfish and unbearable.

"Is it worth it?" he asked himself, taking the picture in his hand.

And, as he stood there with an injury inflicted by Reyna and the possibility of losing her forever, he had every reason to go against the girl who sometimes hated him, who drove him crazy, and who pushed people away by nature. But he knew his answer.

Jason took a box in his room and began to go around the room, and he took his time doing it until the box was almost full. And he had to sit on the bed to look at the box just to get it truly through his head that this was it.

Sitting in the box across from him was all of Suzie's stuff.

Pictures of them as a couple. Jackets, jewelry, and scarves she had forgotten in his house. Little things she left occasionally like trinkets she kept in her purse or make-up she left around while touching up.

He could still see her in his head, but she felt distant now. A memory of his first serious girlfriend. A pretty face to remember but not to dwell over. Easy manners to hope to find again but not really _want_ again. And a relationship he could base others on but not one that he might show up at three in the morning at her house after having too much to drink to beg to have back.

Jason thought it would hurt to let Suzie go, that it would be the first real heartbreak. But, while it hurt, it was also a relief. He was letting it go for something much stronger, something that was worth it. He was saying goodbye so that he wouldn't have to say goodbye to his best friend.

He stood, and he knew he had to make peace with Reyna.

Reyna wasn't thinking about peace. She wanted it desperately, but now she worried it would never come. That she had just lost him and pushed him towards Suzie. As Reyna sat there, she played over what he had told her before.

That she was pushing away the one person who was trying to be with her, who tried to stay beside her. No, that she _had _pushed him away.

Reyna felt a feeling that rarely hit her, despair.

It wasn't until this moment that she realized that he wasn't someone she knew. That he wasn't a fellow praetor and a hero to be admired for his skill. He wasn't even just a friend and someone she shared a similar past with. No, he was so much more.

This would have scared her before. This would have had caused a fear greater than any war could cause. It would have had her cowering and pushing him as far away as possible if she hadn't already seen the effects of pushing him away, if she hadn't already lost him…

And Reyna did what Reyna didn't do.

She cried. She _sobbed_. Sitting on the floor, she just let the tears fall until they were dried up. And, when they did, she just sat there, hugging her knees.

And then the door opened.

Reyna's eyes flew up to the stranger, and there he was.

The cut on his cheek was covered with a bandage, and the sight of it turned her stomach.

She wanted to pretend that she was confident in them making up, to put on a playful smile and smirk something at him. She was determined not to look like a helpless child as she looked at him. But she couldn't help herself.

And one look from his blue eyes gave her what she needed to know.

Reyna found herself jumping up and ran towards him, and he wrapped her up in a hug.

"I am so sorry. I can't believe that, I just can't believe I did that," Reyna told him.

"You've done worse in the arena," Jason smirked in her ear, and she laughed happily.

Reyna began to get comfortable in his arms.

"I don't know what happened to us…"

_Yes, you do, Reyna_, they both mentally said.

"I don't know how it happened, I guess. But Suzie wanted us apart, and it worked."

Reyna's spine stiffened.

"But that's over, anyway. Mates over dates right?"

Reyna's face lit up.

She wasn't sure why it made her so happy that they were splitting up, and she did her best not to think the obvious.

"So, we're good, right?" Jason asked hopefully, and Reyna finally realized that he felt the same way about their friendship as she did.

"Of course," Reyna nodded, and she smiled, "You know, you are breaking up with your girlfriend. This may not happen for a while, so we might as well take advantage of it. You can cry and wail about her on my shoulder as we eat Jelly Beans and watch movies."

"Ooh, you said the magic words, Jelly Beans. I'm in."

* * *

_**I am sorry I haven't written in so long, I guess I just kind of forgot about it. But here it is, a nice new chapter with the break-up of Jason and Suzie. I hope you liked it and that it made up for the insane wait.**_


	14. The Break-Up

**The Break-Up**

* * *

"You don't have to do it today," Reyna told Jason, sipping at her hot chocolate.

Last night, Jason decided to end things with Suzie. He packed up her stuff in a box with Suzie written in big letters. He got all ready, planned out everything he would say to her, and he even took the time to take out every picture of her in the house.

He was ready to let this go.

But, now that it was time, he couldn't do it.

Instead, he just sat there at the café with his morning hot chocolate and looked out to the shop across the street where Suzie was shopping with some of her friends.

Looking back at her, he couldn't really remember what had drawn him to her so much. She was beautiful yes, but she was more girly than he usually liked. She was sweet to him, but she could be cruel to his friends. She was good in the arena, but she made it clear that she would rather be doing her nails. And she adored him, but it felt like she was really just keeping up with what was best for her image sometimes.

He always thought there was something in between them, but he couldn't even remember it now.

Jason was over it, he had already moved on. But he just couldn't get himself to do it.

It was the hesitance to pull the trigger even when you knew it had to be done.

"What are you talking about it?" Jason looked back to Reyna, pretending to be alright.

But Reyna wasn't fooled though.

She knew why he was so hesitant to break-up with her. He wanted to be nice about it. After all, Suzie did like him. He wasn't breaking up with her for a big fight or something she really did, this would be a shock to Suzie. He had to be gentle.

Of course, if it was up to Reyna, she would have done it as brutally as possible.

But she _did_ understand.

"You're nervous, I get it. You can take your time to break-up with her, I understand, Jason."

"What are you talking about?" Jason tried, "I'm not _nervous_."

Reyna raised her eyebrows.

"Fine, I'm a _little_ nervous."

Reyna crossed her arms.

Jason slouched in his chair.

"I just don't know what to say."

"Easy. We're done. Here's your stuff. Delete my number."

Jason crossed his arms.

"I don't want to be _cruel_."

"What does it matter? It isn't like you two are getting back together," Reyna shrugged, taking a sip of her drink.

"But it's not like she did something bad or anything. This is just out of the blue for her, and I have no reason to want to hurt her," Jason tried.

"Whatever, it's your girlfriend," Reyna raised her hands in surrender.

Jason looked back out the window to the shop where Suzie was handing her credit card to a cashier in the store, and Jason tried to plan out what he should say to her.

But nothing felt right.

_Too mean. To nice and sedate like this was easy for him. Too compassionate._

He could never get the right balance.

"Listen, if you aren't going to break-up with her today, can we get to the office? We still have some paperwork to finish up, you know."

Jason sat up and nodded.

"Fine."

Reyna stood, and her eyes widened.

"She's coming this way."

"What?" Jason's eyes flew to the window, where his girlfriend was smiling wide as she took her big red sunglasses off her nose.

Suzie waved happily as she caught sight of her boyfriend. She gave herself a mental once-over, and she happily decided that her red V-Neck tee shirt, dark wash jeans, and leather high-heeled boots were cute enough to not look too overdone but still rival Reyna. Suzie hurried into the coffee shop.

Reyna gave Jason a nod and a smirk.

"Good luck, Jay-Jay," she whispered as she got up and headed towards the counter to get a new cup of hot chocolate.

Jason felt sick, his face went pale, and he lost every ounce of courage he had in his body.

He was so blind sighted he couldn't even say hello.

_You can kill any monster, defeat armies, become a Praetor, and handle _Praetor Reyna, Jason told himself, _You can handle breaking up with Suzie._

"Hey, Baby," Suzie leaned down to kiss him, but his mouth was slack.

She knit her eyebrows in confusion and sat down across from him.

"Are you okay, Jason?" she took his hand, and Jason froze.

_Oh gods, I can't do this_, he fretted.

"Well, not really, Suzie."

"Is it Reyna?"

"What?"

"Listen, I understand, Jason. I know you have to work with her and that you two are friends. But she can totally be annoying and _unbearable_. You don't have to feel bad. You tried, but she just can't close to people," Suzie patted his hand.

"Wait, what? No, no, not Reyna. I'm not saying goodbye to Reyna, I'm saying goodbye to you."

Jason regretted it as soon as it came off his tongue.

Suzie's jaw dropped.

He stared, watching as her entire body began to shake.

Jason. Jason Grace broke up with _her_.

Suzie and Jason.

This was the match made by the gods. Ever since they were children, it was clear that they were supposed to be together. It wasn't a want, it was basically _mandatory._ No one had ever questioned it, it was just a truth in their minds.

They were supposed start dating when he became praetor. They would stay together and become truly serious in college. When they were in their twenties, he was supposed to give her the family heirloom engagement ring, and she was supposed to throw a big, beautiful wedding. Then they were supposed to continue completely in love, buy a house, and begin to try for their first baby. They would have a son, Jupiter, and they would have a daughter, Celia, or maybe even two. Suzie would join the PTA and dress up her daughters in beautiful clothes, and Jason would teach their son how to fight in the arena.

And now it was flushing down the toilet.

Suzie's veins bulged, her breathing stopped, and her face began to turn red.

_He-He's leaving me!_ Suzie's anger built, Me_! How could be break up with _me?

Jason watched her with fear as Suzie's clover green eyes narrowed in on him.

"You are leaving me," Suzie's jaw tightened.

His eyes widened.

"_Me_?!" she screamed, not caring if the entire town heard.

She didn't have a mind of prudence or what others might think.

If anything, she wanted them to know. She wanted everyone to know what a big mistake Jason was making, to announce to the world of new suitors that she was available and wanted to show him what he would be missing.

But the want of vengeance couldn't dull the pain. It wasn't as much losing someone she held dear and adored (though that did pain her), and it wasn't as much losing the thought of the life she had envisioned (it hurt, but she knew it wasn't _exactly_ set in stone).

No, it was that _he_ left _her_. That he got the upper hand. That she was to be pitied and to get the polite smiles from her Venus relatives that expressed their sorrow for her pain but took joy in the fact that _they_ hadn't been dumped and that _she_ had. It was the "Girl's Night" that her friends would organize to rally her spirits and keep her away from the opposite sex that had hurt her so much. And it was the loss of the grand stature that being Praetor Jason Grace's girlfriend.

And, even more, it was for _her_!

For Reyna, who was sour, disagreeable, ill-tempured, and always serious. Reyna who wore old jeans and faded tee shirts ninety-percent of the time and kept her hair in a braid all the time. Reyna who pushed everyone away.

Suzie was sweet, easy to get along with, never got too angry (or at least took out her revenge in private), and was always as fun as was acceptable at the moment. Suzie was beautiful and accentuated it with soft curls, pretty clothes, and a smile. Suzie accepted and even _encouraged_ love.

On paper, Suzie was the far better choice, even if she didn't have the merit and stature in the community as Reyna

But, somehow, those points hadn't converted to real life and had stayed on paper.

This infuriated Suzie even more.

"How can you leave _me?!_" she screamed again.

Jason blushed, ashamed and embarrassed that such a private matter was being screamed in a coffee shop. And he didn't dare meet Reyna's stare.

"It just isn't working out, Suzie," he tried.

"What?" her eyes were watering and wide as she found desperation for him to return to her consume her, "But we're so perfect together!"

She pushed away her anger for a final attempt with him.

"We're not, Suzie."

"W-What isn't perfect?" she wiped her tears and sat up to try and convince him, "We agree on almost everything. I respect your work, I don't demand too much time. I adore you, I really do. And-and you adore me. T-This is basically the first fight we've ever had!"

"Suzie, we just don't…. fit together."

"_Fit together?_ How do we not _fit together_?"

"Well, I mean…" Jason tried, "We're just different. I love work, I love being in the army like this, and I love playing capture the flag. You work because you have to, you don't want to stay in the army, and you would rather be anywhere than capture the flag."

"But I do it! I do it for you, I-I could learn to love it!"

"I don't _want_ you to learn to love it. I don't want to conform just so we can keep dating. We're different people, Suzie."

"Buh-Buh-" before she could even finish the word, Jason was already his head.

"I'm sorry, I know this has to hurt. And I hate to have to do this to you, but it is for the best."

Suzie opened her mouth to interject, but he was already up and moving away from her.

She called to him but no reply, he wanted to get out there as best he could. Reyna, who just so happened to be good friends with the barista, was allowed to sneak out the back before Suzie could take out her anger on her. And Suzie's blood boiled.

She picked up his cup of hot chocolate and stood, no longer screaming for her boyfriend as he left her.

No, she was no longer a girlfriend.

She was a bitter ex.

A very bitter ex.

And bitter exes had different rules.

Different rules that allowed Suzie to throw the cup of hot chocolate like a spear at Jason, which he narrowly escaped by closing the door in time.

"I hate you, you Son of a Hellhound! You will never _ever_ date anyone _ever, ever_ again except for your harpy of a partner! Your life is going to be torture if I have anything to say about it!" Suzie screamed at the top of her lungs.

Jason's eyes widened, looking at a monster that had once been a beautiful and sweet girl.

_Glad I got away from that…_ he thought to himself.

"You sure know how to pick them," Reyna laughed as she walked up to stand next to him infront of the coffee shop.

Suzie's frantic blood-thirsty gave narrowed in on Reyna, and Jason quickly grabbed Reyna's risk and made a run for it.

"Gods, Jason, why do you have to date the crazy girls who become homicidal when you dump them?!" Reyna yelled as they ran away from Suzie.

**And here is the break-up scene. Suzie is officially out of the picture. I wonder what will happen next?**


	15. Praetor Reyna's Sick Day

**Praetor Reyna's Sick Days**

* * *

Praetor Reyna never got sick.

She had never taken a sick day since she got in office. She had never pushed work off to someone else while she nursed a cold with chicken soup and never getting out of her pajamas. She had never even called in a fake sick day to go goof off or even just get some well needed sleep.

While there had been days where she set her own hours and allowed herself a little more sleep or even more time to wait for the Dayquil to kick in, she hadn't taken an entire day off before.

Everyone thought that Reyna had an amazing immune system. Some said that she maintained it with weird diets and herbal medicines. Other claimed that she made a deal with a god to keep from being sick. And many of Venus's descendants, who now hated her after the Suzie incident, thought that she must have made a deal with Venus to never get sick but to be unlovable.

But the truth was much more simple than that.

Reyna just simply never took a sick day.

Oh yeah she got sick.

She had a normal immune system and got sick like normal people. But she went on with her life. She took her medicine, packed some tissues, and powered through. It wasn't always the best for her health (actually, it was the _opposite_ of the best), but Reyna loved her job. That should be a good thing, but Reyna didn't know how to _stop_ loving her job. She didn't know how to just stop working.

Even when she was sick…

Jason was the opposite of this.

Jason had been taught the principles of taking care of your body. A general had to be prepared to lead his soldiers into the fight, and Jason was always preparing for that.

He wasn't completely obsessed with health, but he did regard it much more than Reyna did. Reyna could go days without eating, just working and not thinking to eat. And she could just work straight through a cold, even if it prolonged the cold and created more suffering.

When Jason really got sick, he locked himself in his room with his favorite movies and spent the time in his bed waiting out the illness. Jason, though he always complained of it to his friends later, enjoyed his sick time. He got sleep, watched a lot of TV, ate mostly whatever he wanted, and didn't have to change out of his pajamas. His sick time was needed for more than his physical health, he needed it for his mental well-being.

Reyna had never gotten to enjoy a real sick day. She never knew what it was like to wake up in bed and stay in bed, turning on the TV instead of jumping out of bed and getting dressed. She didn't know what it was like to just longue and lazily get out of bed and eat chips and snacks all day, free from duties for the "sake of her health" and because no one would risk getting sick to bring her work.

It was a bliss she had never gotten to experience, and she wasn't planning on it as she realized that she was getting sick.

It started as a sneeze, and it turned into a cough. The cough added a sore throat, and her stomach began to ache soon after.

Before she knew it, she was sick, and she did what she always did. She got out of bed, got dressed, put some tissues and cough drops into her pocket, and took some Dayquil. Then she was out to work, careful not to get too close to people of course, but close enough to get her work done.

No one noticed except for Jason.

Just that morning, as she was opening his front door to grab a poptart from his pantry and make sure he was awake, he could tell at first glance she was sick.

And, immediately, he told her to go back to bed.

"I am not going back to bed, Jason. We have work to do."

"Work_ I_ can do. You are sick, you need rest."

"It's nothing. I'll be _fine_. Now drop it."

Jason would have kept pestering her, but he could see now that it wasn't going to do any good, and he knew how stubborn Reyna was. If he started telling her that she couldn't do things, she would just go and do them. Though he was actually trying to help her, he knew that it would be harming her to keep going.

"Fine, let's get to work," Jason grabbed a protein bar from the pantry, and they started off on their morning rounds.

Praetors had to do about everything from the military, New Rome, the camp, and even the local drama.

First, they went over new plans for the military. They approved purchases for the camp. They did a security check over New Rome, and they had to settle some local disputes during their lunch hour. From then, they just kept on with their duties, but things felt longer, harder, and even more annoying for Reyna.

By that night, when she would have usually been settling in for some relaxing time before bed, Reyna was beat. She took a hot shower instead of a relaxing Roman bath. She skipped dinner and had something from the fridge instead. And, when she would have been on the phone with Gwen or reading up for work, she went to bed and passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

While Reyna needed to be up and ready for her office day where she had to get all dressed up (not wearing jeans and a comfortable tee shirt was dressing up for Reyna, at least when she was this sick), Reyna's body needed rest. And Reyna's body won the battle and kept her sleeping soundly through her first alarm. She stirred at her second, and the third on her cell phone just made the bed vibrate, not that she noticed.

Jason was prepared to force her to sleep, and he was trying to think of what he could do to get that as he used his key to get into her house. He grabbed a Twizzler from a bowl on a nearby table, and Jason was biting into it as he climbed up the stairs and made his way to her room.

He almost laughed at the sight.

Praetor Reyna was oversleeping _and_ sick. Someone alert the media!

Jason finished up his Twizzler and disappeared into the bathroom where he began to get the cold medicine from the cabinet. While Reyna rested, Jason called on every trick to cure or at least ease a cold that he knew. He mixed the Dayquil with other drinks to make it bearable. He prepared the soup to make later in case she got hungry, and he spent a while on Reyna's laptop writing an email explaining that he was giving permission for Octavian to run the camp for a day. He also quickly wrote another email to Bobby to keep an eye on Octavian.

By the time Jason had finished all of this, changed out of his robe and into an old sweatshirt he had left before, and was bringing the Dayquil drink with Twizzlers up the stairs, Reyna's eyes were beginning to tiredly blink open.

"Jason, what are you doing here?" her voice was tired and her mind groggy. She felt like there was a cloud over her brain, blocking all intelligent thought.

"Making sure you're alright," he put the Twizzlers down on the end table and handed her the drink, "Drink this."

She did. She was too tired to ask why. Once she did, she put the drink down on the end table and tried to sit up. But it was slowly and painfully, so Jason made her lay down again.

"I'm _fine,_ Jason," she rolled her eyes, but she was lying down like he said anyway, "I'll be up in just a minute, and we'll get to work."

"No, we won't."

Reyna's eyes flew open.

"Yes, we _will._"

"No, _we_ won't. _Octavian_ will."

Now her eyes were turned murderous.

"What did you _do_, Jason Grace?" she said his name as if it was the dirtiest curse word ever created.

"Well, _you_ called in sick, and I called in to take care of you. Octavian is taking over today, and Bobby is helping him and supervising him."

"You chose _Bobby_ of all people to babysit him?" Reyna moaned, and she sounded like she just might cry.

"He is responsible, and they'll do fine. Even if they don't, you don't need to worry about it now. You need more rest."

"No," Reyna began to sit herself up, but she was slow and her body weak. Jason pushed her back down again, and she glared at him.

"Reyna, you're sick, and you're going to sleep."

"I am not! I have _work_!"

"Yes, you will because that drink causes drowsiness."

Just as Jason said it, she could feel it sweeping over her.

Jason gave her a look that made it very clear to both that Jason had won. Reyna groaned.

"Go back to sleep," Jason ordered, and Reyna mumbled out something that sounded vaguely of her telling him that she hated him. But he didn't think much about it. He just let her slide back into a comfortable position and put her head back on the pillow. She was pretty much passed out by the time pulled the blankets over her and tucked her in.

The rest of the day, Reyna was a bit easier, knowing that she had lost now.

But she definitely made sure that Jason was paying for her annoyance. That day, he was basically her slave. She was hungry, he got whatever she wanted. She was too cold, he got another blanket. She was too hot and wanted a fan, he got the fan. She wanted a drink, he got it. She wanted to watch a movie, he tracked it down and played it for her. She needed tissues, he got them. They were small things, but she made sure that anything and everything she needed even if she could get it herself was fetched and brought to her by Jason.

It was her way of getting even without actually hurting him. After all, her body _had_ needed this.

By the end of the day, things were calmer between the two. They watched a movie together, and she fell asleep during the credits. Jason cleaned up, put away the snacks, and turned off the movie, and exhaustion began to take him over as he finished up with everything.

He didn't want to go home and leave her alone. The couch was an option. Another option was the room that was supposed to be a guest room and did have a bed, though the bed was surrounded by books, paperwork, and was used as a general storage area for some of New Rome's documents. But, in his tired haze, he found himself climbing into bed beside Reyna.

Within seconds, he was also fast asleep, and the tired pair enjoyed restful deep sleep together.

It was about ten when Reyna woke again, and she let out an annoyed grunt as she realized that she was still not ready in Jason's book to go back to work. As she woke up, she was beginning to prepare herself for another day of being stuck in a house with Jason doing everything to make her feel better.

She had to admit it was sweet, even if it did annoy her.

But then again, that was basically Jason.

He did follow all of the rules. He was sweet and caring, and he was completely adorable sometimes. He did nice things, thought of other people, and he even put up with Praetor Reyna. To everyone, he was a nice boy. And, particularly to girls, he was a nice boy that they all wanted to be _their boy_.

But there was more than his perfect appearance, propriety, kindness, and smarts.

For one thing, he could be a complete shmuck! Yes, he was sweet. He did nice things. And he was great at his job. And, yes, his annoying things were quite a bit down. But, once you got to know him, he could also be completely annoying.

For example, Reyna's nicknames: Rey-Rey, General, Queen, Prae-Prae Rey-Rey, Shorty, etc.

For reasons Reyna didn't know and never would admit, she kinda liked it though…

As Reyna was beginning to really wake up and able to think straight, she noticed something heavy on her waist. Then warmth on her back. And finally Jason's nose on her neck.

Reyna wasn't exactly sure how respond, so her body did it for her.

It was a combination of what she knew she was supposed to do (roll her eyes), what her brain said she should do as she was probably contagious (wince at the thought that he wouldn't be able to work and she would have to take care of him), and what a weird part of her wanted (a smile and a blush).

Finally though, her anger for the second thing took over.

She kicked him in the leg.

Jason winced as he was pried from sleep.

"What the Pluto was that for?"

"For you sleeping in my bed with your arms around me! Haven't we been over this?" Reyna yelled, "And wouldn't you think not to do this especially when I am _sick_?!"

"I fell asleep in here, calm the Jupiter down," Jason sat up.

He ruffled his hair and looked at the clock.

_I better write an email to Octavian_, he thought.

"Oh great, not only did I have a sick day, I had two," Reyna plopped her head on the pillow, "It'll be the talk of the town."

"Wait until someone hears that I slept here. The rumor mill will go crazy," Jason smirked.

Reyna kicked him again, and he let out another wince.

"Will you _stop_ doing that?"

"When you stop acting like an idiot, I'll stop."

"So you'll never stop," he mumbled, standing up and ruffling his hair.

Reyna stared at him as she began to think about Octavian running everything.

Reyna felt a chill run down her spine, and her stomach felt like it was about to empty its contents but not for a cold this time.

She rolled over to where her face was in the pillow and she moaned.

Jason almost laughed, knowing what was wrong with her.

They hadn't been friends for very long, but he could tell everything about her. Just hearing her moan, he could tell what was wrong, what she was thinking of, and typically how to get her mind off of it.

With working together and seeing each other all the time, they kind of had to know everything about each other. Sometimes, they didn't even need to talk. They knew what the other was thinking what to do, and particularly what _not_ to do so as not to evoke anger from the other.

But they somehow managed to find new things to learn about each other, new things that annoyed them about each other, and new things they also liked about each other.

This was not one of those things though.

Jason could tell she was thinking about work (a _very easy guess_ when it came to Reyna), and she was thinking about Octavian (even _easier_). She was wondering how he was doing as a leader (a worry Jason shared), and she was thinking about killing Jason for making her stay home and let Octavian do his job.

"Calm down, General Rey-Rey."

Reyna glared at him.

She hated being called Rey-Rey. And she hated being called General. Put them together and you might as well have just started digging your own grave.

"Bobby is watching Octavian, and you, my dear, are still sick. And you are mad at me, so I will let you have what you want today. So, Reyna, what do you want?"

"I _want_ to go to work."

"Hot chocolate it is."

_**Oh my God! I have had this thing forever, working on it occasionally, but I didn't really think about it. I am so sorry it took so long. **_


	16. The Start of Summer

**The Start of Summer**

* * *

Summer was being ushered into New Rome happily.

In New Rome, you didn't feel the heat of summer to know it was there. There wasn't a moment in nature where you looked around and decided for yourself, "This is summer." There was not a weather woman announcing it or a big barbeque planned to celebrate the arrival.

Summer was shown off though the stores of New Rome.

The coffee shop still sold hot beverages, but their signs were now geared to their cool smoothies and iced coffees. Make-up stores now showed pictures of girls on the beach in bikinis on their ads in the windows. The magazines sold held articles on how to pick the best swimsuit for your body. The stores started changing their mannequins into sun dresses. And the racks of clothing that you first saw when you walked into the store were swimsuits.

Everyone just kind of new summer was coming, and they did what was expected for summer.

Their clothes got shorter. Their layers got fewer. Their tans got darker. And their hair got lighter.

Reyna did not like summer.

For the first thing, it reminded her of the year round summer conditions on Circe's island. For another, she and her sister, Hylla, split up over the summer long ago. Then of course there was her best friend, Gwen.

Every summer, they had the same day every single year.

She and Gwen met at the coffee shop. Reyna showed up in jeans and a long-sleeve tee shirt. Gwen was in shorts. Reyna ordered a hot chocolate. Gwen got a strawberry and banana smoothie. They went shopping. Reyna looked at shirts, and Gwen looked at bathing suits.

Every year, they did this.

Every year, Gwen said the same thing. She said that she needed to embrace the summer. Gwen thought that she needed to go out and smell the roses, to find a summer fling, and to just have fun. To help her in this quest, Gwen forced her to buy a hot bikini, a pair of new shorts, and a new pair of sunglasses.

All of these went into Reyna's closet, and she continued to wear her tee shirt and jeans while drinking hot chocolate.

Jason loved summer on the other hand. He happily traded his warmer clothing for something to fit the season, and he was signed up by friends to attend the summer parties that would be thrown, though Jason was off the partying scene.

Summer was the only thing that had stayed the same in his mind after becoming friends with Reyna.

Partying was done. Friends were hard to keep in touch with. And work became his life, not just an important part of it.

But summer was still the same. Summer was still being allowed to walk around shirtless, jumping into the lake, and getting more summer holidays off from work. Jason happily switched from hot chocolate to blueberry and strawberry smoothies. And his skin became darker and his hair lighter as well.

Jason liked that. He thought it gave him a sense of stability. That, even though things had changed and he was no longer the same Jason, this was still the same New Rome summer. And he was going to try to make it to those parties, though he was still avoiding his crazy ex-girlfriend. He was still going to swim around to enjoy himself. And he was still going to have fun this summer as he always did.

Jason had also never spent a summer with Reyna, and he wondered what she would be like during the summer. Did the illustrious Reyna let loose during the summer? Or did she just simply start wearing cooler clothing? Jason couldn't help but wonder, and he waited for her to start with the summer normalcies as everyone else was.

He kept waiting.

Every day, he became more adjusted to it.

But she did not. She continued to wear long-sleeves and jeans. When they went to get drinks, she continued with her hot chocolate while he opted for something cooler. She continued to work when everyone else was skipping off early.

Spring was reaching the very end, and summer was about to start when it became the time of year when it was acceptable to jump into the lake without staring at you like you were crazy. Jason, just as he always had, was planning on taking advantage of it, and his buddies were planning on going with him. Gwen and Bobby had both made an effort to make sure that they were free for the day they planned, and Jason had never thought to question whether she would go with them.

Until now at least.

Reyna was working in laptop in her bedroom. It was getting late, and it was about time for her to get a shower and get into bed. She probably would have already put up her laptop and grabbed a shower if it hadn't been that Jason was still at her house.

Jason often did this, and she didn't much mind.

He was bored, staring at the ceiling as he reclined onto her bed. He was convinced that her bed was more comfortable than his own, though Reyna assured him that they had the same bed. And, when he pushed her about it, she said that his bed would be just as comfortable if he cleaned it. That typically got him to shut up.

"Need help?" he asked, glancing over to Reyna.

"Finishing up. I'm almost done, really."

He nodded, standing up, and he began to look over her room.

This was the only place she personalized. The only place you would really be able to look around and know that this was Reyna's house. Her living room had throws and colorful pillows with books on the coffee table, but that was probably Gwen. She had cute and colorful plates, but that is more of a housewarming gift that you are given. There were many new bookcases that belonged to her, but they were meant for use, not for looks.

Reyna's room was the only place that was truly hers. Her pictures were to be seen by her, to make her happy. The fairy lights wrapped around her doorframe were for her own amusement, though it typically didn't look like her. The clothes on the floor were her own. The mess and cleanliness was hers. Everything was her own.

It always made Jason smile, and he began to walk around to Reyna's closet. And, the first thing he saw was a new black, string bikini. He was completely shocked, and he just kept staring at the bikini. He began to imagine Reyna in the bikini, and it made him peer around to look at her. It was hard to imagine someone who was sitting in old sweats wearing a sexy bikini. And, aside from how it was sexy, he wanted to see Reyna actually in a bikini. He had seen her in dresses (which were _completely_ shocking). He had seen her in tight jeans and girly shirts (also _shocking_). But a bikini was completely different.

He almost couldn't picture it.

Reyna's eyes slipped up to him.

"What?"

Jason just kept staring, and he wasn't sure what to say.

"You're being weird, Jason."

"Hey, so, on Saturday, we're all heading down to the lake?"

"Nah, I'm not into it."

Jason's face fell.

"But Bobby and Gwen are coming," Jason tried.

"I'm just not into it, Jase. I'm sorry," she shrugged.

Jason tried not to be so disappointed.

"Why?"

Reyna looked up from her laptop, closing it.

"What's up?"

"No, I mean, we're just going to hang out. And you are our friend. And this is summer," he tried.

"I don't like summer," Reyna stood, putting away her laptop.

Jason's jaw dropped.

"How do you _not_ like summer?"

"I just don't like summer," Reyna shrugged.

"Everyone likes summer!" Jason yelled, staring at his best friend as if suddenly realizing that she was completely insane.

"Not me," Reyna went into her bathroom to start brushing her teeth.

Jason stood at the doorframe.

"How on earth can you _not like summer_?" Jason questioned.

"It reminds me too much of Circe's island, of being on that ship. Hylla and I split up over a summer. I just don't like summer. Especially considering what this summer before," Reyna rolled her eyes as she tied her hair in a ponytail.

"You've got to come with us!" Jason looked at her, and she turned around.

"I'm _not _coming. Have fun."

"But we want you there!"

"I won't enjoy it, I _don't like summer_. I'll drag you guys down."

"How do you _know_ you don't like summer? Maybe you should give it another chance," Jason told her, hoping that his annoying begging would at least get her to cave. She was showing no signs of caving though.

"Go to bed, Jason."

"But-" Jason tried, and Reyna gave him the look that told him that saying anything else would not be good for his health.

Jason slumped, defeated as he started out of her room. Jason kept trying to think of what he could do to get Reyna to go with them. He thought of it as he went home, as he went to bed, and as he fell asleep. By morning, he was able to put his mind off it for a little while to do his normal routine.

Jason skipped a shower that morning, got dressed his summer fashions, and he went over to get Reyna for breakfast. She sent him on saying that she was going to jump in the shower first, and he did as she said.

At breakfast, everyone was ready for summer. The clothes were lighter and shorter. The hair was lighter (though through the bottle for most of them). The days of jackets and jeans were gone. And the plates were even smaller for the Venus girls preparing to get into swimsuit season.

You could feel summer around you.

Bobby and Gwen were already ready for summer as well. Jason had other friends, but they weren't at lunch. And Bobby and Gwen had earned a special place in his heart. They were the only ones he truly had time for.

As Jason came to sit beside them, Bobby brought up the plan for swimming on Saturday, and Jason remembered Reyna's vow not to go with them.

"Speaking of that, I asked Reyna to come, and she said no. I mean, I begged, and she still said she wouldn't come."

"She never comes," Gwen shrugged as she buttered her toast, "I've been asking her for _years_. It would be a miracle if anyone got her to come. She hates summer."

"But her closet is full of all of those bathing suits!"

"They are," Bobby raised his eyebrows. Ever since the Christmas party where Reyna showed up looking hot, Bobby had seen Reyna as such. Even when she reverted to her less than sexy outfits, she was still hot to him.

Gwen pushed him off his seat and looked back to Jason.

"I buy them for her. I try every year to get her to like summer," Gwen shrugged as she took a bite of her toast.

"How can you hate summer?!"

Gwen shrugged as Bobby picked himself off the floor and sat in his seat again.

"She says it is because it reminds her too much of her past. Circe's island. The boast. Her sister. All that," Gwen shrugged, "I try every year to teach her to love it. She refuses," Gwen shrugged again, and Jason kept staring at her, wondering how she could be so nonchalant.

"I didn't notice it last summer," he crossed his arms.

"Because you had just become praetor. You were busy. You didn't notice a lot of things," Gwen took a gulp of orange juice.

"She is right," Bobby nodded as he bit into a piece of bacon, "You didn't notice anything other than how tired you were."

"I did, too!"

"You didn't notice Reyna hated summer," Bobby pointed out.

As Jason went on to find, everyone knew that Reyna hated summer.

Some people thought it was because she hated anything fun and thought we should work all the time. Some people thought that it was because people got to go home and see family during the summer but that she didn't have one. Some Venus girls were convinced that it was because Reyna felt inferior with her body to their swimsuit-ready bodies.

Everyone had different reasons.

But they all knew.

Jason began to wonder how, until now, he had not. He now remembered that Reyna had warn warmer clothing, but they had spent most of their first summer together (which was only a half-summer anyway) in doors and getting used to a new partnership. Before then, he has respect for Reyna if not a big crush on her. He didn't listen to the gossip about her, and they hadn't been friends.

So he just didn't know.

But, now that he did, he kept trying to change it.

First, he brought her a smoothie to work instead of hot chocolate. She went to the coffee machine in the office and made hot chocolate. He tried to get her to go for something summery at lunch, but she went for her normal food. He tried to get her to change out of her long tee shirt and into something cooler by turning the temperature hotter in the office. She just turned on a fan.

All of Jason's tricks were thought of by Reyna, and she had a plan for all of them.

Jason was beginning to give up. He was starting to understand that he could not make her love summer no matter how hard he tried. His attempts were getting fewer and his faith weaker by the time Friday rolled around. By Friday night, he had completely given up not just on getting her to go to the lake with him but on ever seeing her in the bikini.

Period.

"So, you sure you don't want to come tomorrow? It'll be fun," Jason tried his last attempt for Reyna to go with them swimming in the lake. But, as the words left his mouth, he knew her reaction. He even knew the face she would have to accompany it.

And, as her mouth opened and her words began, he could predict every single one of them.

"Nah, I have some work to do. You have fun."

"Alright, we'll miss you," Jason hugged her, and he started back to his house, completely given up on the idea.

Reyna went upstairs, and she was getting out of a shower when she noticed that her laptop was giving her an alert for a new email.

_From: Hylla_

_Hey, Baby Sister. I am in Brazil. Last minute check up on some things here. But I managed to get out of work long enough to slide into a swimsuit, get some sunblock, and head to a beach. This is amazing. The scenery is great. The water is amazing. And there are certainly some hot guys I could enslave if you know what I mean._

_And enjoying summer made me think of you. Are you still afraid of it?_

Reyna looked at the message, biting her lower lip.

The summer aboard the ship in the Caribbean Sea shot to her mind. It was the summer when herr entire life changed. She was spoiled in Circe's palace. She could do as she pleased so long as she avoided boys and helped out when visitors showed up. She was free to roam, and She never had to worry. War and violence was the last thing on her mind. It seemed to be unreal. It was just something she had read about in those books Hylla didn't want her reading.

And then that security was just gone.

She had to learn life's lessons hard and young. They weren't watered down, and it was learn them or die.

Every time summer began, Reyna was reminded of these rules and of how she learned them. Every time the peaceful shuffling in of summer started, she was reminded of that safety she had felt on that island. And, as summer went on, she was reminded of how her safety was ripped away from her and how violence and war became her life.

Reyna began to type her new message.

_To: Hylla_

_Brazil sounds wonderful. I've been working a lot. I haven't had much time for bathing suits and sneaking off. Jason and I have been working on a new project, we're really swamped. Jason and I started the project to get him busy so he wouldn't have to run into that crazy ex-girlfriend of his. Now, she is dating a Mars boy, and we are stuck finishing up the work._

_And, um, summer is here, isn't it? I haven't gotten to enjoy it._

_I'm not sure I'll ever enjoy it to be honest with you. I can't stop thinking about it. I mean, I like my life, but it was just such a change…_

_Love, Reyna_

Reyna pressed send, and she was expecting my sister to take a while. But, by the time she was dressed, she had responded.

_From: Hylla_

_You talk about him a lot, you know. Much more than your old male praetor. You sure you don't want to enslave him for your own?_

_Was his ex-girlfriend the one who threatened to kill you both? She sounds a bit crazy, I will agree with you there._

_And I wonder if that is my fault, you know. I wonder, if I hadn't sheltered you so much, would things have been better? Would the shock have been less? Whatever the answer to that is, I thought I was doing what was best for you, and I love you, Reyna._

_On that topic, I don't want you to miss out on your life. You're young. You can't live the rest of your life in fear. When you decline these parties or these beach trips with your friends or whatever, that is time being young that you can never get back. Work is important, but so is your happiness, Reyna._

_I love you, goodnight._

_Your loving sister, Hylla_

Reyna read though the message for what felt like an hour. And, even when she stopped reading it, she could feel the words weighing on her all night. By morning, most of the message had given up on her.

But the last paragraph kept playing through her mind.

She was missing out on her life. She couldn't live life in fear. And she was throwing away time she could never get back. Work was important, but so was Reyna's happiness.

That was what she kept playing through her mind as she tried to power through her day. She had a small breakfast, but she couldn't really eat. She powered up her laptop to start working, but the presence of her laptop made her think about the email even more. She tried to do paperwork, but nothing soothed her. And then she decided to do something crazy.

And, while she was going through all of this, her friends were enjoying their first real day of summer.

The lake was empty. Suzie was throwing a party, and most everyone was attending. Jason was not invited, Bobby had just split from a Venus girl, and Gwen hated Suzie. So they decided to go to the lake, and they loved that they were alone.

Bobby was teasing Gwen about how hot she looked in her bikini, and she kept squeezing sunblock at him. Jason loved his friends, and he was having fun. But he kept thinking about Reyna and knowing that it didn't feel really complete without their little workaholic.

"Stop pouting, she was never going to come, Jason," Gwen smiled at him, "And we can still have fun without her."

"Let's skinny dip!" Bobby yelled.

Gwen and Jason both stared at Bobby, and Gwen squirted him with sun block again.

"I am getting in the water though. You guys wanna come?" Gwen stood, and she looked to the two of them. The three friends went out to the dock and dove right in, laughing and carrying on like the three teenagers they were, not the soldiers soon to go to war.

Gwen was splashing Jason when she froze and her jaw dropped. Bobby was coming up from the water, and his smile evaporated into a face of shock.

"What's up with you two?" Jason asked as he turned around, and he almost passed out.

He might as well have seen a leprechaun carrying a pot of gold while riding a unicorn and singing a Disney movie musical number.

Because, right in front of his very eyes, he saw the impossible.

Praetor Reyna.

Skipping work.

Going swimming.

Enjoying summer.

In a string bikini.

Jason's eyes felt like they were going to bob out of his head.

"Hey, guys," Reyna said calmly, getting in the water with them as if this was an everyday thing.


End file.
